I’m at a coffee shop/bar place in my neighborhood with a friend, whom I went to school with since kindergarten. Every time we meet, we reminiscence about the good ol’ days. One thing we like to constantly talk about is our high school days. Our conversation took a turn when I talked about when I had to give a presentation on the first “king” of Korea in our world history class. But for the life of me, I could not remember the king’s name at the coffee shop. I kept muttering weird stuff about Baekdusan (Mt. Baekdu, the birthplace of the king), Taebaeksan, Taeyun, and other weird Korean words that came into my head. Then I said “단군” (Dangun).

When I pronounced it, I pronounced it like 단근 (Dangeun). That’s what my friend heard it as. Immediately, in a bewildered tone, he asked, “Carrots?!” With one look, we both started cracking up so badly. See, that word really does mean “carrot” in Korean, so it just made it so funny. After we recovered from our laughfest, we still weren’t sure if that was the king’s name or not. We even tried to access the wireless internet the place offered on his new PSP 3000, but it wouldn’t work for whatever reasons.

Now that I’m home, I did indeed look up my answer, and I was correct! It was Dangun! Muhahaha! Ahem. Now, though, I will imagine poor King Dangun as a carrot. No thanks to my buddy for that insinuation! All hail King Carrot the First!

Disclaimers: I am not desecrating his name by doing this. I’m just sharing a funny moment. I do respect Korea and Dangun, but some things just occur spontaneously like it did on this night.