김아싸! (My Korean name)

A guy I bumped into in Itaewon named Simon happened to be a graphic artist. We chatted a bit and decided to drink together. He was only passing through Korea to see his mother, so it was a brief friendship. Nonetheless, he thanked me for showing him around by creating this image with part of my Korean name on it.

Actually the word on the image in English means 'Yeah!'. It's used in the same way by adults and kids when something good has just happened. In English letters you would pronounce it 'Ah-Ssah!'. The double s is just a longer s sound.

Well, my Korean name is Kim Ah-Ssah(!). Kim (김) is the most common Korean family name followed by Lee (이) and Park (박).

So I've combined the most common family name with the most common 'fun word' in the Korean language. You can imagine the reactions I get when I tell Koreans my Korean name. Some people don't like it, but most chuckle pretty hard.

I got the name from a student of mine. I had a hat made with the work 'Ah-Ssah!' written in Korea like this 아싸! on it. It always gets reactions as I walk through the city.

So anyway, I was in class one day with the hat on. It was the first class of the term, so the students hadn't met me before. At the end of class with nothing left to teach, I suggested we have a quiz. After a few moans, a student suggested we have a quiz about my name. I agreed that was a good idea. So someone shouted 'Eddie' which is correct, but I said it was incorrect. Another said 'Eduard' which is correct, but I said incorrect. Another said 'Joseph', which is my middle name and I said incorrect. Now the students are getting confused. I had just written my complete name on the board during my introduction. Then finally, one student said 'your name is Kim Ah-Ssah!'. The class erupted in laughter and from then on, I've called myself by that name in Korean.