Eugene posted an interesting account of a party scene in Korea. It makes me wish I had been there. Go read it if you haven’t done so already.
The chants of “maekju jo” and “kogi jo” he wrote about reminded me of some chanting I heard the time I was at the CN Tower in Toronto. In the elevator, the tourguide had British, French and Italian flag pins on her shirt.
As the elevator went up, she gave us the English speech she gives about the height of the tower, when it was built, yadda yadda yadda. Then these people on the side of the elevator started jumping up and down, raising their fists and chanting “En Francais!” over and over in unison. So she apologized to them in French that she would say it again in French when she was done in English.
After about 80% of the ride was done, she gave a condensed version of her spiel in French. We all piled out of the elevator when the door opened. I was the last one out. I turned around to thank her.
“Grazie. Ciao,” I said, trying my best to sound like my Italian professor from college.
The “Oh crap, I just screwed up” look on her face was priceless. “In italiano?” she asked me, as the doors shut between us.
Some people think that was mean. But I think it was funny, and harmless.