Monday, October 5, 2009

Three English phrases you hear at the shipyard

There are three main phrases that Korean supervisors/engineers/management know and use on a regular basis. Every time you discuss doing something with them you will hear at least one of the three, sometimes even used together. The big three are as follows:
"It is very difficult": Pretty much just like it sounds, it basically is used if you mention doing something and they don't want to do it. It is a first reaction type comment before thinking anything through in an attempt to avoid having to do the task at all. This one is easily overcome with a little persistence.
"Oh no, impossible": This one is used after thinking about a task that needs to be done and determining that they REALLY don't want to do it. My personal favorite for a few reasons. First off, NOTHING is impossible, difficult may be, highly unlikely, sure, but impossible? I don't buy that one. Secondly, I have heard it used for tasks ranging from hanging a 50 ton piece of equipment and keeping it perfectly vertical to drilling and tapping a hole in a steel plate. So apparently impossible knows no size or complexity limitations either. I have to hand it to the guys at the shipyard, I have seen the make the "impossible" happen on a daily basis here...
"Same same, but different": Also a good one. This is a catch-all they use to describe a task that is similar to another task to exhibit how they plan to do it or that they understand it. The caveat here though is the wide range of "same same". I have seen it used to describe hanging an identical piece of equipment 40 feet away (good usage), gives you a sense of comfort knowing they understand what to do. I have also seen it used in reference to hanging a piece of equipment that is a tenth of the weight, completely different in functionality and mounting, and not even applicable in our case. But they still trot out "same same, but different". Here the different is obvious, but the "same same", not so much. This is the scary usage that does not give you a warm fuzzy feeling. A good analogy for it is that they will use it for a turkey sub at quiznos and a ham sub at quiznos. same same, but different. This I understand. The problem is they will also use it for a turkey sub at quiznos and a 8 passenger Kia minivan. Same same, but different. That is the scary part, as the different is clear but the same same, not so much. Same same because they are both not naturally occurring in nature? They both are in Korea? You can drive the van to Quizno's? Needless to say, this one provides the most head scratching and is also the most frequently used since it can apparently refer to pretty much anything...

1 comment: