MANNAM KOREAN CLASS: The birds and the mice also hear what you say

MANNAM KOREAN CLASS: The birds and the mice also hear what you say

 These days many people don’t use proverbs much like the elders did. Maybe it’s because the words that we use now became very shorten. We use computer, text messages and other things that are important with speed. Although we live in a world that offers speed, why don’t we slow down for a while? To know the wisdom that people used in old times, sometimes that can teach us a lesson in present.

 In MANNAM Korean class, we learned a Korean proverb about birds and mice. It was very interesting and also there were scientific reasons in the word. MANNAM friends who listened to this class said the meaning is very interesting and fun. So I want to share it with others too.

 낮말은 새가 듣고, 밤 말은 쥐가 듣는다(Nat-mal-eun sae-ga dout-go, bam-mal-eun gee-ga dout-nun-da). Have you ever heard about this proverb before? Okay. Let’s figure out one by one.

 First, let’s look one by one with the words.

-낮(Nat): Daytime / 밤(Bam): Night

-말(Mal): words

-새(Sae): bird / 쥐(Gee): mice, mouse

-듣다(doutda): listen

So, if you mix everything altogether it means ‘The birds hear words in daytimes and the mice hear words at night.’ Like what you think, it means ‘Always be careful, someone is hearing what you say.’ Pretty neat, huh? I think this kind of saying came out because, in the past the ancestors live with nature around them.

But, recently the scientist found out that this kind of saying is very scientific. In the daytime, the atmosphere is high so, the sounds go up. On the other side, at night the atmosphere becomes low so, the sounds go down. You can see that birds fly around the sky during the daytime. That is how they can easy hear the sound. And the mice also become active at night. Hearing the sounds that comes from the top is easy to hear.

The main point is we should always be careful what we say. The birds and mice might hear! Thanks to MANNAM I learned this proverb! It has been a good opportunity to know about the wisdom from the past and to learn a tip about words. What to know more? Join MANNAM!