Incredibly Small World

I work in a bookstore part-time which allows me to encounter numerous types of people. Still, I never expected to meet anyone connected to the sporting world, even tangentially. Yet that's what happened tonight. I was assisting a young grad student with her selection. During the checkout process, I was shocked to discover that she had a VERY famoua name among skating fans: Yuna Kim!

The young woman is Korean and studying here in the States. Yet when I asked her about her famous namesake, she had absolutely NO CLUE whom I was talking about. She said both her first and last names are so common that she does not even pay attention to those who share it.

That's unexpected! I would have thought that everyone in South Korea would at least be familiar with Kim's name and that she is a skater, the way most Americans know, say, Tom Cruise. (Or fill in a better name if you think of one.) And even if this young student didn't keep up with Korea's most famous citizen, surely some of her Korean friends might have made a comment at one time or another. But what an enjoyable encounter for you. I suppose it could have just as easily been the real YuNa. People who are hugely famous in their own country often move around almost anonymously elsewhere, and I can imagine YuNa or another popular foreign skater coming to a major American city on business and then strolling around without being noticed. When I'm in a strange city, I generally check out the bookstore and any fabric store I see. (Too tempting to withstand!)

I don't think that's fair to compare Yuna Kim with a crazy person.

I'm so behind the times that I couldn't think of any other name that was a household word. And you have to admit, that guy is known to the majority of Americans, especially after this month's events. Moreover, there is another guy with that name (though I think he spells Cruise differently) who is the head of a scooter company that advertises on TV. But Tom Cruise (the famous one) is definitely not someone I'd want to meet in any capacity whatsoever. In fact, I cracked up the newsstand guy when (standing there in my jeans, sweatshirt, and streetworn sneakers, hauling my plastic shopping bag with office work in it), I pointed to one of the magazines featuring Cruise on the cover and said I was glad I didn't have to worry about the guy because he certainly wouldn't ever be interested in marrying me.

I think it was the real Yu-na. She was browsing incognito, so she said, "Yu-na Kim? Who's that?"

Mathman said:

I think it was the real Yu-na. She was browsing incognito, so she said, "Yu-na Kim? Who's that?"

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Either that or the young lady is sick and tired of being asked about the other Yuna Kim, with zero interest of talking about her.

It was definitely not the "real" Yuna. I 'm really good at recognizing famous people in public, all the way down to the many TV and print journalists as well as congressmen who frequent the store hoping to be anonymous. This one was much taller around 5'7" or 5'8" and looked more Eurasian than full Korean (freckles etc.) I got the impression that she has been immersed in school here in the States to such of a degree that she has no time for any diversions. I'm the same way when it comes to current music artists. I didn't know who Adele was for more than a year despite hearing her music everywhere.

You and me both, Jcoates. I never know who's au courant. (I know the birthdays of many classical composers by heart, though.) A lot of people don't know any skaters at all...though I would expect a Korean at least to know of "our" YuNa, as most Americans know the name of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan even if they couldn't pick their faces out of a crowd.