Outdoor Cafeteria
Do you know Pojangmacha? When we walk in the street, we can see many covered wagon drinking houses called “Pojangmacha”. In past, they were so famous for the common people or old people because they are very cheap comparing the other pubs. Actually, they were not clean and uncomfortable. In addition to, there were no music, just noise of the next people and we couldn’t expect the good service. However it is so popular in Korea until now even though they don’t change still, expecially for the young people. Furthermore they are not cheap and sometimes they are more expensive than the other pubs. However why do they are so popular until now even though they have still have disadvantages?
Some young people like the atmosphere of “Pojangmacha”. They are kinds of the outdoor cafeteria, so they can feel outside drinking alcohol. Imagine. It is night of the fall and there is a little cool wind. Someone sits around together and they drink feeling the wind. It could be a romantic or fantastic time. In addition to, there are some special food that we can’t taste easily around. For example, there are the skin of the pig or the legs of the chicken. That’s why pojangmacha is so popular in Korea.
5 thoughts on “Outdoor Cafeteria”
Comments are closed.
It’s really interesting. When I lived in Iksan, I found that fewer young people (like University students and high school kids), and many more slightly older people (in their 30s and early 40s), seemed to like pojangmacha. Most of the younger people preferred to go to fancy looking rest-hofs, because of the fancy atmosphere.
This was frustrating to me because students always thought that I would prefer to go to a rest-hof when personally, I preferred smaller, old-fashioned restaurants.
The reason is the food! I found that in Jeonbuk, the modernized, fusion, or “Western”-styled food wasn’t really very good, and even the traditional Korean food in the “fancy” restaurants wasn’t as good as the Korean food at small, quiet, old-fashioned restaurants. When I eat, the food is much more important than the music, or the chairs, or the lighting. My students, in Iksan anyway, seemed to disagree.
I’m going to make one note about how you use the word “pojangmacha” — it’s a special word, so we usually italicize foreign words in English, like this: pojangmacha. This is to show that it is in fact a foreign word.
The other thing is about pluralizing pojangmacha. Some people will do it in English, and some people won’t.
The reason some people will pluralize pojangmacha to be “two pojangmachas“. This isn’t wrong, because they’re using normal English rules for pluralization and assuming (reasonably) that pojangmacha are countable nouns.
However, some people won’t pluralize it but will instead use “pojangmacha” as the plural. It probably sounds weird, but it’s a combination of the sound of the word, and depending on how much Korean they know. In Korean, pojangmacha can either mean singular or plural, right? We don’t always add 들�?� to make a plural, sometimes we imply it. So for someone who knows some Korean, “pojangmachas” (with an s at the end) sounds weird
Also, sometimes in English, foreign words have unusual pluralizations, especially Greek words or words from the Near East. For example, the traditional plural of “genie” is “genii”, and the plural of “hippopotamus” is traditionally “hippopotami.” So for some Anglophones who know a little Korean, it only makes sense to use “pojangmacha” as the plural of “pojangmacha.”
Anyway, there’s no rule, but just be consistent. Either always add the s for plurals, or don’t. Adding the s is probably the easier way, however, and more likely to make non-Korean-speakers able to understand your writing.
I have never gone to ‘Pojangmacha’. When I passed ‘Pojangmacha’, I always thought that I’ll go there sometime. I want to feel the friendly atmosphere from there.
I also have never drunk in ‘Pojangmacha’. Nowadays, I can hardly see it. Actually, I don’t like drinking outside, so I don’t understand why Koreans like it!
In the past i’m used to go there with my friends ,at there we were drink a soju with hong hap tang and kooksoo.
And we were talked about our problems related to girl’s and study and university.
Frankly to speak pojangmacha facility is not so good.
Nevertheless many people lke go to there and at there i feel humane of people
I understand why Koreans like ‘Pojangmacha’ because I like it! I enjoy drinking a little with my friends there, and I love the atmosphere of it. Furthermore, I can try many kinds of new food.