Losers

Ever since I came to Korea last year it was obvious that being tall is a good thing here, and that many Koreans are self-conscious about their height. The guys here stand on their tiptoes for pictures, and the girls typically wear sky-high heels on Kosin's steep campus.

This obsession with height has been increasing recently though, stemming in part from a Korean college girl's statement on a popular television program that, “Being tall means being competitive. I think short guys are losers.” This comment brought loser into the slang as synonymous with loser. In the last few weeks, I have heard a number of guys refer to themselves as losers because they're not tall. I was surprised to find an article on this while perusing the NY Times yesterday. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/world/asia/23seoul.html.

I did have a conversation recently with a few of my shorter students, though, that made me smile. While they aren't happy to be short, one tried to console his friend by saying something like, "The land lower to the sea level is more beautiful." It actually turned out to be quite poetic with his limited English phrasing. I'm just glad that my parents never tried to shoot me up with growth hormones or stick me in a stretching device like the girl in the article. Korea still surprises me some days.