# rude imperative



## astlanda

I'm talking about imperative: Don't buy ...
사지 마.
사지 마라.
사지 마세요.
사지 마십시오.

and propositive: Let us not buy ...
사지 말자.
사지 맙시다.

Which expression is more rude 사지 마 or 사지 마라 ?

What is the actual meaning of 라 suffix?


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## BlackWizard

사지 마라 would be more rude. While both are commands, 사지 마 has a more suggestive quality - as if addressed between beings of equal status. 사지 마라 is a much stronger suggestion, and using that implies that you are of a superior status or at least have a clear, valid and acceptable reason for commanding.

I can't find the exact definition in dictionary, but ~라 suffix implies, as explained above, a command or strong suggestion from superior to inferior.


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## astlanda

고맙습니다.


Couldn't the ~라  [ra] be related to the Japanese ~ろ [ro]: (rude) command form (食べろ [tabero]: eat (damnit)!!)

I've met some other "similarities" of Korean, Japanese, Nivkh and Ainu (besides the loanwords from Chinese).


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## BlackWizard

Oh, didn't know you knew Japanese. While you are correct in that it is roughly the same idea, the context in which they are used is a little different. It's a little tricky... see if this makes any sense to you.

The degree of "rudeness" described above is not quite as straightforward as I had made it sound in above post. It actually depends on relationship between you and the listener, and the context in which it is being spoken. In the above example:

사지 마라  

would imply that you are above the listener, so if you were of a lower relevant social status, this would be rude no matter what your *specific* relationship to the listener was. So the rudeness implied from misuse of this form is that of an inferior stepping out of his/her place. 

사지 마라

on the other hand is more neutral, and the listener could be of an equal social status as you. However, the use of this form is not quite so set in stone as the above, and if you were sufficiently close enough to the listener, you COULD use it to someone who was higher than you. For example, a son could potentially say this to his father. It's only rude if you don't have close relationship with the listener.

...so this is the type of "rudeness" I meant in my previous post, and in this respect, 사지 마라 would be the ruder thing to say.

HOWEVER, the latter type of wording is also the type of wording used in "fighting words". The "feel" of the word is  harsh, and said in a wrong context or tone, it could sound very offensive. ~라 form, on the other hand, the wording itself is "soft" and gentle in nature. As if being spoken by the king to his subjects or from a father to a child.

Let's assume that you have a son who wants to buy a toy which you don't want him to have, and he is being very persistent. As you get more and more annoyed with the kid, you would go from 사지 마라 to 사지 마, despite the "social ladder" view of rudeness as described above. Likewise, if you were openly swearing at each other, this is the type of form that you would be using, not the ~라 form. 

So in this case, 사지 마 would be the ruder thing to say. Because rudeness implied here is that of open disrespect and hostility.

To sum up: 사지 마라 is the ruder thing to say by default, but 사지 마 has a potential to be much ruder given the right context.

My apologies for misleading information in my previous post, this is something we do without conscious through and I didn't even think about the second type until you compared it to Japanese. I hope this makes sense to you, and if you have more questions, I'd be glade to answer them.


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