Amanda Takes Off...

I've recently learned the adjective-아/어/여지다 form in Korean, meaning "to change, to become, to turn into." Yesterday Good Man read some stories from my fairy tale book with me. My mind was suddenly making 100 connections a story. I've had this book for some time, but suddenly large chunks of it were making more sense than ever before.

Patient Good Man! I was asking questions about other changing/becoming forms ("...so 가 되다 means..."). I was shouting out new or figured-out-on-the-spot vocabulary ("주웠습니다, 줍다, I know that one!" "보여 주다...show?"). I was asking questions, why was it "두 사람" rather than "사람 두 명"? Why was the woman using 하시다 with her husband?

Suddenly a story I read weeks ago popped into my head. There had been one sentence I'd glossed over at the end of the story and hadn't worried about even though it had confused me at the time. I thought I understood the problem. I found the story, 해와 달 이야기 and found the sentence. In a contextual sentence the little sister complains to her older brother that she's afraid of the dark.

I put on my best Korean-little-sister-whining voice. "오빠, 나는 밤이 너무 무서워요."

Good Man giggled at me through the entire sentence, and I said, "Do I sound like a Korean girlfriend?"

He shook his head, no.

"오빠!" I whined, using the "big brother" nickname that girls call their boyfriend here, aiming for the proper Korean whine. "What about now?"

He shook his head, no.

I held out my hands, pouted as well as I could and whined, "오빠빠빠빠! 돈이 줘!" Boyfriend, give me some money.

He laughed and nodded.

Finally!