rented wheat bag?

[ginnycat5]

What's a rented wheat bag? Cha said he felt like one, after Yoonsik had Aunt bring him and his wife upstairs for a vote. Is it something used to create an impression of wealth? for what occasion?

[Lucy]

I don't know, but it was funny. I interpreted it as him saying that he ended up being useless and out of place, like a big lump of something or other (like "a sack of potatoes" in our own parlance). Why a rented wheat sack, though? I wonder.

[TheBo]

Wheat must be expensive in Korea, not like here where we're swimming in it. Perhaps (like the plastic food on thanksgiving tables) a sham "rented" wheat-bag is used to show wealth in some ceremonial circumstance.

Bo

[galacticchick]

thebo said:

Wheat must be expensive in Korea, not like here where we're swimming in it. Perhaps (like the plastic food on thanksgiving tables) a sham "rented" wheat-bag is used to show wealth in some ceremonial circumstance.

Bo

That's what I'm thinking. Maybe people would rent out wheat bags to show they weren't just surviving on rice?

[galacticchick]

On another note, how fun--karaoke, I mean. Aunt and Little Grandpa seem to enjoy karaoke a lot. That's what the U.S. needs, a karaoke machine in every household!

[Lucy]

I still can't believe we were forced to miss that "Silk Merchant" routine that Cha is famed for.

[TheBo]

You get another taste of it later in the series, in the final episode I think. I think the idea is, it's something he drags (pun) out and does when he tosses back a few too many at celebrations. Do you want a description, since you were supposed to see it, or did someone already provide that?

Bo

[Lucy]

Oh, that's good. Thanks, Bo. Yes, I would love a description of it. I'm imagining lots of mincing and a kimono. Maybe someone did describe it, but I'd like to hear it from you, too.

[TheBo]

The main attraction is the sinuous winding of hands in pink kitchen gloves. He ties his tie around his head, but these two things are really the only extent of the costume change. The talent shows in that he SEEMS to be wearing a full costume with make-up. It is something like Gilbert & Sullivan, only from the original, if you get my drift--Korean or Chinese comic opera. He sings in falsetto while he rolls his eyes and smirks like Yum Yum, and resembles one of those old-timey comics who sang in drag in English pantomime. It's not stodgy old Cha or Mr Oh, I can tell you that.

My explanation is inadequate. I hope Soju can add to this.

Bo

[Lucy]

thebo said:

The main attraction is the sinuous winding of hands in pink kitchen gloves. He ties his tie around his head, but these two things are really the only extent of the costume change. The talent shows in that he SEEMS to be wearing a full costume with make-up. It is something like Gilbert & Sullivan, only from the original, if you get my drift--Korean or Chinese comic opera. He sings in falsetto while he rolls his eyes and smirks like Yum Yum, and resembles one of those old-timey comics who sang in drag in English pantomime. It's not stodgy old Cha or Mr Oh, I can tell you that.

My explanation is inadequate. I hope Soju can add to this.

Bo

Oh, man, I have GOT to see this. It sounds hilarious! The sinuous pink-gloved hands (like Jaye Davidson in "The Crying Game") sound masterful.

I love him and Great Aunt together. It's just the nicest thing that she has turned into his tough little card-playing and drinking buddy.

P.S. She reminds me SO much of my grandmother. A similarly acerbic lady who worked her fingers to the bone providing for her kids (not a widow but had a bum of a husband). She recognized a good man, though sometimes grudgingly, when she saw one.

[Soju]

I just did a Google search for "rented wheat bag", and the only hit I got was this thread!

[soccer]

Correct Translation: "rented barley bag".
Meaning: A dummy that does not talk and only listens, so no one really
pay attention to this kind of person.
Origin: The 10th king(Yeonsangoon) in Chosun/Josun dynasty was
a real bad one, and his major interests were on drinks, women, and
prabably wharever you can possibly imagine. So some of his ministers determined to dethrone him, and had a meeting in a
secret, and realy dark, place.
While everyone was supposed to talk and discuss this serious issue,
there was one guy who did't speak a word. Guess what? Spy?
It was a rented barley bag in a hat and coat of someone in the room.
The owner of that place was going to use that bag of barly for some
other events.

Most Koreans are not aware of the origin of this expression,
though they know it is an "ugly dummy" when they say it.

BTW, wheat in Korea is as chaep as in USA.

[ginnycat5]

Thanks for clearing that up, soccer! I think we say "a warm body"-someone to occupy a seat, whether they know anything about an issue or not, to make one side look larger than they really are.

[TheBo]

Ah, thanks, soccer. I assumed it might be more costly other places than it is here purely because we produce so much of it.

I think. LOL.

Bo