September 13, 2010

  • The Buddhist Name

    Something hilarious happened today, but was understandable...

    Today in my modern German philosophy class a girl I did not know asked me if 'Bo-bil' (the Koreanization of my actual last name) was my Buddhist name... At first I almost laughed, but then it suddenly made a small amount of sense...

    A caucasian man studying philosophy in Asia with lotus flower tattoos visible on his arms and a non-anglo sounding last name... Put it up against some of the basic Indian vocabulary and names with Koreanized pronunciations -- Gumal, Puligandla, Abidya, Gobal, Balma, Benales, Belubanya, Bobil... It does not sound out of place and when people are learning English in Korea they get typical anglo last names in texts (Brown, White, Johnson, Smith, Richards, Simmons, Irving, etc.), many not having much of a concept of how diverse anglophone last names can be.

    I guess it vaguely made me nod my head a little. It was understandable if you go White Guy > Asia > Philosophy > Lotus tattoos > Buddhism > Indian Buddhist name?

    In actuality... I am somewhat impressed on the long line of thought. It reminded me of some Sherlock Holmes logic.

    She went on to ask other vaguely interesting questions that you normally didn't get, (e.g. 'Are you living here with your whole family?') I committed her face and name to memory and made a mental note that we need to talk more in the future.