Comments on: Oh, those naughty, AIDS-threatening, skirt-chasing Aussie English teachers…

By: snow

snow — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:11:59 +0000

The Economist? That’s print. Big difference. Nobody speaks like that. What native speaker says “I went to Ukraine.”
or “I’m going to Ukraine.”? Not in Canada, they don’t.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:57:40 +0000

They got to The Economist, but I am a traditionalist.

By: Pyotr

Pyotr — Thu, 31 May 2007 10:34:33 +0000

“recommend”

By: Pyotr

Pyotr — Thu, 31 May 2007 10:33:25 +0000

I was also getting suckered by Ukraine, but now I realize that this is just more revisionist garbage. The Ukraine it is. Stay the course.

Yeah, I guess if those wacky drooling tree-huggers at the Economist recomment leaving out the “the”, it must be revisionist garbage.

Or maybe they are just moving on.

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Thu, 31 May 2007 10:16:22 +0000

I was also getting suckered by Ukraine, but now I realize that this is just more revisionist garbage. The Ukraine it is. Stay the course.

By: Pyotr

Pyotr — Thu, 31 May 2007 10:07:21 +0000

That’s what Ukraine says, in yet another attempt by nosey foreigners to control our English language. In English it’s the Ukraine.

From the Economist style guide:

Do not use the definite article before Krajina, Lebanon, Piedmont, Punjab, Sudan, Transkei, Ukraine. But it is the Caucasus, the Gambia, The Hague, the Maghreb, the Netherlands—and La Paz, Le Havre, Los Angeles, etc.

By: The Marmot’s Hole » Reponse from Aussie English teacher

The Marmot’s Hole » Reponse from Aussie English teacher — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:17:01 +0000

[...] for his side of the story, I emailed the Australian English teacher whose purported email was recently printed in the Chosun Ilbo. Of course, in the age of the Internet, it’s hard to know whether people are who they [...]

By: French Quarter

French Quarter — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:26:56 +0000

I think the purpose of the article was to bash some Korean girls, and the article was a response to a recent Jungang-ilbo article regarding a debate on a bulletin board of joins.com.

By: McGenghis

McGenghis — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:50:59 +0000

I don’t live in Seoul, so my opinion is probably not valid, but I have never met any real opposition being an English teacher in Korea. Admittedly, I have been reluctant to concede that I am employed at a hagwon (thank you, this blog) but even still I see sensationalism on every side.
This I don’t attribute to any people or economic system but rather a human tendency to get mad at things so that they can forget about their bills or that they have corpses decaying in their basements.

I am going to be a lifer in Korea, because my reason has taken a vacation and I feel pretty good?

By: Maddlew

Maddlew — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:01:15 +0000

Not only is that e-mail a hose job, I might venture to guess that there isn’t even a girl. This journalist, (snicker), might just have a beef with the teacher in question. He of course didn’t disclose anything about her. Maybe there is a girl and she dumped the author for the Aussie.
I don’t usually delve in speculation but this fish-rap hack deserves all the bilge that backs up into his fecally rich world.
I only wish more Koreans recognized a pack-job when it’s foisted on them.