Never say never.

Hi. The flooding situation in Queensland and Brisbane has gotten a lot worse over the last night. My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones.. homes and dreams.. Brisbane river is still rising and the authorities are evacuating people who live in potentially affected area. My friends, workmates, and all the members of the society, I would like to ask everyone to be extra careful to stay safe over the next few days. I send my prayers.


Never say never.
설마가 사람 잡는다.


설마가, solmaga, improbable + suffix
사람, saram, person
잡는다, jobnunda, catch


설마가 사람 잡는다.
solmaga saram jobnunda.


It is a saying to warn people who do not believe a bad event would happen to them under a circumstance. If I translate it literally, it would go something like "If someone is in a continuous denial, someone will get hurt.". 설마 can be used by itself and "사람 잡는다" is used to exaggerate physical pain, for example.

A: Your house will be inundated. Please evacuate.
B: 설마....

A: It has been raining for a month now!
B: 비가 사람 잡는다. (rain is hurting people)

Brisbane roads affected by flooding are here.
You can donate to the flood relief appeal from here.

설마가 사람 잡아요. Please take extra caution.

Comments

  1. MinJanuary 12, 2011 at 8:06 PM

    Queensland Police Service is doing a great job informing people via twitter. If you are interested, you can follow them here. http://twitter.com/#!/QPSmedia

    People are very cooperating as well. According to QPS, there has been only one case where they had to forcibly evacuate people. :)

    ReplyDelete

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