Ninja Pajamas, and other good things.

Ayric and I were recently at a little Chinese restaurant and he mentioned to me that Asian people seem "terse." For example, a non-Asian server might make a lot of small talk such as, "Okay, will that be all? Great, we'll have that out to you right away." etc. etc. whereas in this situation, the server just said, "Okay" and walked away. Gasp! Not a garrulous American!

My explaination was that for people who speak English as a second language, and so colloquialisms don't really come naturally. If you don't grow up saying and experiencing filler phrases, you simply don't think to say them

My mother actually had further insight. In Korean, at least, one phrase, one very short phrase, contains quite a bit more information and politeness than the comparable phrase in English. For example:

English:

1. Do you have any coffee?/Is there any coffee?

2. Why yes, I have some coffee right here. Would you like some?

3. May I have some coffee please? Would you mind terribly getting me some? I would really appreciate some.

4. Are you enjoying your coffee?

5. Oh, yes, it's very delicious, thank you.

Korean:

1. Issuyo Coffee? (which is pronounced more like "copy" since there really isn't an "f" in Korean)

2. Issuyo Coffee.

3. Coffee Chuseyo.

4. Choahyo?

5. Choahyo.

Where Chuseyo is quite literally, "give me" - all of the politeness is implied. Truthfully, with the gutteral intonations of the language and the massive amount of frowning going on, I was always convinced as a child that my aunties were going to rip each other limb from limb.

So, the next time you're concerned your Chinese restaurant waitress is poised to rip you limb from limb, just remember that each word is infused with all the politeness you can imagine, as though saturated in MSG.

(Either that, or you're victim of stereotypical Asian arrogance and xenophobia. There's really no way to tell, so forget about it.)