Why, thank you

DC: Kam sa hamnee-dar. It means thank you. But it's formal, according to our young Korean pal who's been helping us with translation in various situations, including signing up for mobile phones, and ordering pizza, our reward to him last night for the phone business. "Kam sa ham-needar is too formal," he said with a big grin after we climbed out of a taxi, whose driver I'd accorded far too much respect. "You don't need to use it. It makes you sound like you are not from Korea." Apparently, you'd use it if, say, you wanted to be extremely nice to the Korean cop who'd just pulled you over for speeding on our big highway to Seoul. Or to a judge or a doctor. "Ko map sumnee-dar. Means thanks. It's better," said our friend. "More casual. It's cooler."