Anyone familiar with Asian languages?

[tonilea]

We were eating at one of our local "chinese" places and a group of older Asians (maybe Korean - just because the owners of the "chinese" place are Korean - lol) were eating. It sounded like one of the men might be telling a story - anyway, he was quite loud and suddenly almost shouted, "faaawk yew". He said a few more words and said it again. He did it several times. We wondered if he was actually saying what it sounded like.....

 

[abdmom]

I'm not familiar with Korean culture, but in Cantonese culture, it's very common for older people to be much louder in restaurants than Westerners. It's also more common to be more "open" in discussions. My FIL's company's name is very similar to the phrase you heard.

 

[tonilea]

Thanks for the insight. We were mostly just curious.

 

[tasha99]

I've lived in Korea and Japan, and my guess is he was telling a story where someone said what it sounded like (ie, he was quoting).

Or it could be a word that sounds like that, but I don't remember one in either Korean or Japanese, and that would have been memorable. Could be something in a Chinese language?

 

[tonilea]

I've lived in Korea and Japan, and my guess is he was telling a story where someone said what it sounded like (ie, he was quoting).

Or it could be a word that sounds like that, but I don't remember one in either Korean or Japanese, and that would have been memorable. Could be something in a Chinese language?

Really, It could have been just about any Asian language. We have a very small Asian population, mostly Korean and Vietnamese, but we live near a popular tourist destination. It sounded very sharp and harsh to me, but I know many Asian languages sound that way to Westerners.

 

[MulanUSAF]

My guess is the guy was probably saying what you thought he was saying, in the context of a joke or something. But sometimes other languages could sound something similar to English but is not what you think it is. It also goes the other way around. For example, the first time my mother saw pizza and asked what it was, she heard it as pee-sa. Which sounds like the Chinese word for arsenic. She didn't find it very appetizing.

 

[Deb in IA]

My parents speak Mandarin, Shanghainese, and a bit of Cantonese.

They always say that Cantonese always sounds like people are yelling and arguing with each other.