While the holiday still registers on my own radar as little more than some time off work, I know some people out there might excited about Chuseok tomorrow, and I hope people do enjoy it as much as possible. (Though in my experience, Chuseok is viewed with dread by women of all ages, and young men, as the time when family tortures one another; when women are stuck doing insanely intensive kitchen duty, and where young people are constantly grilled about when they will get plastic surgery, get more plastic surgery, finish school, get a job, get a better job, …
Tag: KOREA
Goods Dumping…?
Ever heard of Mr. Kanny cereals? I noticed these at a Lotte Mart one night a couple of weeks ago, and while they didn’t appeal at all — they seemed to be some kind of Italian corn breakfast cereal — something stood out about them. The Italian equivalent of “This Product Contains Only” was visible and easy enough to translate, but the next line was covered up by a little green strip of what looked like some kind of colored tape. We peeled off the green stuff on one box, starting on one said (which had a word that looked …
“Ya!”
(This post was written during my flight home, on 6 Sept. 2010.) Before I came to live in Asia, I’d hear people explain how a phrase like “so desu ne” could mean all kinds of things from “I see,” or “really?” all the way to, “I’m glad you see it my way, and acknowledge the responsibility that falls upon you in this position given your involvement with my enemies, and the inevitability of this confrontation between us.” I’m alluding, of course, to the ambiguity of language which is universal: “Uh huh” can denote all kinds of things in English, and …
Crazy Korean Phrase Book
Those who remember my post English Made Difficult, about a crazy series of English textbooks (widely) used in Korea during the 1970s will enjoy the look at this ridiculously useless travel phrasebook for visitors to Korea that looks almost as if it is from the same publisher and author. Check it out. (And a tip of the hat to Josh Brandt, who posted about this on a mailing list.)
What The Zen Cowboy Said
Caveat: I know zilch about horses. But I think this says something worth saying, just the same. Been a long time in coming, too. # You wonder, how could a cowboy be so much like the zen monk in that strange book your auntie from San Francisco sent you? He rides up as the sun is coming up, serene on his old stallion, a faint half-smile on his face, and dismounts. Hoisting the saddle off the horse’s back, he rubs the horse down and smiles at you. It’s the only greeting he ever gives anyone, but friendly enough. You ask …
Recommended Books on Korea
So, I was recently asked for a list of my top ten books about Korean history/politics, for someone who is living here and would like to know more about the country. Of course, asking me such a question is dangerous. Dangerous in two ways, mind: I sometimes have some pretty idiosyncratic views about books, and about historical issues that are worthwhile, and I haven’t read many, many books in the subject, so I may overlook some gems as well as recommending some books that have become dated but were important for me when I read them. So anyway, I figured …
“Hakwon Teachers”
In a recent post, I made a disparaging comment about being talked to like some hakwon teacher: And it’s even worse when it’s nine at night and a couple of people come in wanting to sample the beer, just see what it’s like, and they’ve clearly just eaten dinner and tell you so, and you say, with the smarmiest look possible, “Well, I don’t sell draft beer without anju,” as if you’re talking to some hakwon teacher or something, and to top it all off, the anju on your menu is a ridiculously overpriced joke — even moreso than the …
이끼 (Moss)
Well, it’s been a while since I saw a Korean film that I couldn’t quite understand with my limited Korean. (Of course some lines go over my head, but I usually get the gist.) This film, on the other hand, frustrated me like mad. I think part of the reason–probably because it’s based on a comic book–is that there is a lot of non-action action. What I mean by that is, there are a lot of sequences that serve the same function as action sequences, but which actually feature characters either standing still or movingly only a little. Frankly, the …
Last Weekend’s Jazz Festival… and Some Thoughts On Improving For Next Time
By the way, last weekend I also took in an evening of jazz with my friend Nick. It was, in some ways, a disappointment, though I always have a good time with Nick so all was not lost. As a brief summary: 정성죠 Big Band, well, we mostly missed them, arriving only in time to see them back some vocal jazz. Not my thing, and more depressingly, they played some charts that I myself played in high school and university big bands… and not as well as we played those charts, back in the day. The Nana Quartet came next, …
Darwin’s Shockwave: On Violence and Human Nature
Last semester, I think it was, one of my students asked me what I thought about “나영이 사건” as an article topic for the campus English magazine for which students write articles in my journalistic writing course. If you haven’t heard about it — and you probably don’t live in Korea if you haven’t heard about it — “The Nayeong Incident” was a case in which a 57-year-old man raped a 9-year-old girl in a church. Brian in Jeollanamdo has the basics and some links, and all I can add to that is that there were a lot of variation …