Husband and wife, Eastern style

To continue our language lesson, some hard-to-digest facts of life in Japan and Korea. In Japan, the common way for a wife to address her husband is "Shujin". This word also means "owner", "master" and "lord". A long time ago, only rich persons used to be called "shujin", a master of many servants. The wife, of course, being treated as one of the servants. After WWII most married men in Japan happily accepted the title. Husbands as owners of their wives...
Across the water, here in Korea, things are not much better. Seniority is the most important trait, and basically you have to know the age of everyone you meet in order to safely address them. Within marriage it becomes easier: the wife is mostly called "chip-saram", meaning "house-person". There, firmly in her place! Another variety is "an-saram" meaning "inside-person", where the husband naturally is "bakkad-yangban" or "outside gentleman". Other persons wives are sometimes called "wipu", the Korean way of pronouncing "wife".
When the kids arrive the Korean wife loses her identity all together; she is thereafter referred to as "xx-eomma" (so-and-so's mother). Sometimes, the wife is called "the person from xx", if she is from another part of the country. Even friends to the family rarely learn her real name.