山村訓長但知覓

Last night at the gas station, as the Sanchon Hunjang waited for the attendants to fill up the large tank, he glanced into the office to discover a remarkable machine. Well, at least it claims to produce something remarkable:


"기절 안 하면 기절시켜드립니다. " ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

And it ends in the same funny way as all those announcements/assorted warnings/pleas to not dump your trash/etc. signs out there.



These titled-people are all about telling everyone to do something, so they have to rely on all the authority they can muster. This means they hafta include a title at the end as a symbol of their authority to make the declaration. If no other title is available, then "owner 주인" does just fine. Or better yet, "Head Owner 주인장 백." Sometimes they even write it in Chinese to look even more superior to us masses: "주인 白," or "主人 白." Surely everyone gets the unmistakable I'm-in-authority-here-and-I'm-only-doing-this-in-your-best-interest vibe here.

But as to that 백 tacked on the end...white...? Is that the authority's surname? If so, then there sure are a whole lot of Messrs White leaving signs around, at least compared to the percentage of the population that they occupy. Not to mention how difficult it is to find the expected signs that close with "주인 김," and "주인 최."

Well, like the Sanchon Hunjang always says, when in doubt, recheck the dictionary. Could it be that our humble friend 白 is hiding something? According to the Naver 옥편 page:

(copied here because the web is an ever-changing landscape and a poor Sanchon Hunjang can't trust it)

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간체자(簡體字)

훈음 : 흴 백 사성음 : bái 부수 : 白 (흰백 部) 획수 : 5 (부수획수:5) 난이도 : 중학용 한자, 한자능력검정 8급 (쓰기 : 준6급) 뜻풀이 : ㉠희다 ㉡깨끗하다 ㉢분명하다, 명백하다 ㉣진솔하다 ㉤밝다, 밝아지다 ㉥빛나다 ㉦비다, (가진 것이)없다 ㉧아뢰다, 탄핵하다 ㉨흘겨보다, 경멸하다 ㉩흰빛 ㉪백발(白髮) ㉫대사(臺詞/臺辭) ㉬술잔 ㉭거저, 대가 없이 ㉭볶은 쌀 ㉭부질없이, 쓸데없이 ㉭비단, 견직물 ㉭소대(小隊: 군대 편성 단위의 하나) 상대자 : 黑 유의자 : 闡

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Well...lessee here...white...clean...clear...bright...nothing too unexpected there. Oh, wait a minute...there it is, number 이응. 白 = 아뢰다. 아룀. I've seen that word, and her more modernized (which means "less honorific") cousin 알림 around. Even in signs of a similar tone.


So, putting "title + 백" at the bottom of a sign telling people what to do or what to abstain from doing is equivalent to putting "알림" at the top and the position by which your authority is stated at the bottom of the sign.

So let it be written, let it be done!