Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Dapjeongneo and Deppenfahrerbeaugung

Dapjeongneo is a Korean word that is used when someone asks a question, whose answer they already know, and all that the listener has to do is to make a smart and studied guess about the expected answer and say it out loud.

You can think of it the next time someone asks you, “Do I look good in this outfit?” or even when someone says, “I am totally self-made, don’t you agree?”

Of course, the listener’s response would totally depend on whether they were trying to appease or provoke. And that response would lead to a whole new story.

Has anyone’s questions ever made you feel dapjeongneo?



The Husband would never guess that his driving is earning him so much notoriety on my blog, first Ahiki and now Deppenfahrerbeaugang.

Driving on Indian roads is a very chaotic experience. If you can drive in India, driving anywhere should be a breeze. Or so they say. 

A complex system of hand gestures and horn tooting often stands in for the traffic rules which ought to be followed but often aren’t.

When they aren’t, the Husband gets into full form, raging and spewing vitriol against drivers who won’t move on fast enough, people who persist in dawdling when they ought to be burning rubber. Meanwhile I, terribly afraid of a confrontation, will try to appease him.

And that is how we often get into situations where the Husband, up against another driver’s non-existent skills will engage in deppenfahrerbeaugung, a German word whose literal translation is moron driver eyeballing. In other words, you turn around and glare at a bad driver you’ve just overtaken.

Indian drivers do that all the time. Glaring at each other, and abusing, and trying to out-shout each other. But the funny thing is that while the Husband goes full throttle with his Deppenfahrerbeaugung behaviour, I try to make up for it by showing the other driver my most sympathetic face, to make up for the anger displayed by the Husband.

It’s all the matter of a moment, and then we race ahead, intent on reaching our destination.

It has only just occurred to me what the whole scene must look like from the other guy’s viewpoint. The man in the driver’s seat, raging and screaming, the woman by his side, looking all serene and understanding, almost conciliatory, in comparison, seeming to suggest to the hapless guy, "This too shall pass."

And before he can even process the two conflicting emotions emanating from the front seat of the same car, we’re out of his life.

I bet he slows down even further to contemplate the mystery, leaving him exposed to other wannabe-F1 racers, out to Deppenfahrerbeaugung him.

Have you ever Deppenfahrerbeaugung anyone? Or been at the receiving end of one?


13 comments:

  1. This reminds me of my Dad. What a hilarious way to sum it up. Great post, haha :D

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    Replies
    1. Glad you can relate, Anjali, I know a number of people who drive like this.

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  2. Someone once asked me if I liked the material she bought for a new dress and I told here it looked like material for an old lady's house coat. Oops. I had a rule when I was in politics and at a Board meeting. "Never ask any question you do not know the answer to". If you are trying to make a point, you do not want someone to make you look stupid.

    As for those drivers, I have two families from India living on my street and maybe they can handle these bad drivers around here better than I can. Too many drivers here think they do not need to follow the rules of the road. Turn signal? What turn signal?

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    Replies
    1. That's a good rule to follow, Denise. I make it a point not to ask questions whose answers would make me uncomfortable.

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  3. What a great theme for logophiles like me! I've put this on my blog rotation. I'll be back periodically.

    Angelica French
    A-ZPersonalityQuirksforWriters

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to know you liked my theme, Sharon. I look forward to seeing you around.

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  4. Hi Cynthia - those are good words ... I can't spell them, let alone say them ... but I'm sure the driver one I've been on both sides ... now I'm on the softer, gentler side! Cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/d-is-for-ducks-dabbling-diving-domestic.html

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    Replies
    1. Ha, ha, Hilary, funny that you've been on both sides. Which one did you enjoy more?

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  5. I tried to pronounce those words but it vain! Never going to be able to use them but it was such a fun read..
    D for Doula:A hand to hold on your most important day

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    Replies
    1. You never know, Namy, the first one could be quite useful. As for the second, maybe you've seen drivers do that.

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  6. wow, i saw that German word on your link and had to come over and see what it was. It's a word to describe road rage. amazing. and that Korean one was very cool too.

    great post. i enjoyed it.

    Djinnia and the English Language

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  7. I am sure that with my moronic driving skills I have been the cause of many a deppenfahrerbeaugung. Oh this post made me giggle.

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