There is nothing wrong with a little beef and potatoes after sex. Or sending 200 text messages to a topless dancer.
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English Books on Korea (and CDs and DVDs, too)
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64 Comments
First.
So many months spent in the dark and the cold, has to be a sliver lining…
“typical white person” here
PAWI RECOMMENDS©:
you know folks, we always hear from the white male expat about how racist korean society is. in fact, these guys are so well versed in korean racism, they actually know what it’s like to be a black person in korea. can you imagine? a white guy from the states thinks he knows how blacks will be treated in the land of the morning calm. of course, they don’t know since most of what they say about koreans is filtered through their anger of suddenly being the objects of mild racism. it’s their first time.
for a real look into what it’s like to be black in korea, may i recommend a must-read from expat jane of ‘where the hell am i’? the post is entitled ‘presumptuos racist’ and i highly recommend that you read it because it’s chock full of observations from a black woman in korea. however, if you are white, male, and in korea, you may not be happy with what she writes so be warned.
http://expatjane.blogspot.com/
ps the lady’s got a wonderful smile.
however, if you are white, male, and in korea, you may not be happy with what she writes so be warned.
ok thanks pawi since you said we will not like what we read i will pass on it but since i am WHITE and MALE that gives me a great jump on getting laid in korea so talk to you later man…wish me luck!
‘that gives me a great jump on getting laid in korea so talk to you later man…wish me luck!’ mcnut
BINGO! prediction #1: check.
you folks who come to read this place should do yourself a favor and read the ladie’s post. perhaps after the expat takes all my women. lol!
#6 Bad memories….. it got me banned!
pawi and mcnut: thanks for the chuckle.
maybe i’ll steal one of your women too, if there are any left when mcnut’s finished.
“prediction #1: check” — funny stuff.
we should totally design a game of “marmot comment board bingo” and include squares like “racist kyopo posing as a white expat, given away by English errors” and “newbie who doesn’t know the house rules and actually gets offended” and “person who follows another commenter from comment board to comment board to antagonize him/her”
#4
I enjoyed the link. Thanks for bringing it to the attention of people here.
Oh, and “Pawi Recommends” would probably not qualify for copyright protection. Trademarking it would make a lot more sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzjXZTtuOkE
even better!
Did anyone post the “Kickin it in Geumchon” video yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM
I like Expat Jane’s positive outlook and value her perspective as an African-American woman. However, I disagree with her on two points:
1. Most racism in America is not owing to “deep-seated, virulent hatred” but ignorance and stereotyping.
2. Korean attitudes towards “minorities” come from the West. Wrong. The largest minority in Korea are the Chinese, and Korean prejudice towards the Chinese cannot be pinned on white Westerners. Likewise, Korean perceptions of people from other developing countries are completely homegrown.
blaming korean racism on the west (whites) is completely incompetent.
sonagi hits it right on the head above and in addition i will sum it up as follows
koreans were racist long before the west arrived
4. “Pawi Recommends”, eh?
Thanks for the link. I noticed all the traffic coming from over here and figured someone had brought that post up.
:::ding, ding, ding::: I was right.
13. You do realize I wrote that from my perspective, a black one, so I didn’t include the Chinese in the equation. The quote from the moron that inspired the post mentions brown people and those were the “minorities” I was speaking of. If anything, it’s a lack of specificity on my part.
But you can’t imagine I’m not aware of the prejudice that Asians have against each other? I’m perfectly aware that many Chinese are here and that Korean prejudice against them exists, but in terms of the NE Asian pecking order, the Chinese I’ve met really don’t seem to care much what Koreans think.
As for racism in the States coming from ignorance, sure. But after years of programs, music and TV shows maybe it’s ignorance coupled with fatigue or laziness because a lot of white teachers I’ve met here don’t seem to be any more wise on the topic of race.
@#14:
Actually, I think you’ve misread my opinion. I mostly agreed with what Expat Jane wrote about racism in Korea. I only disagreed with her on those two points.
The sort of racism we know in the West does not exist in Korea for the simple fact that the two Koreas are the most ethnically homogenous sovereign countries on earth. Expats of whatever color aren’t really minorities in a true sense. Ethnic Chinese, whether they hold Korean citizenship or permanent residency, qualify.
@#15:
I did not think that you were unaware of Korean prejudice against other Asians. I wrote what I wrote because I think you misapplied the North American definition of “minority” to an Asian context. I was not a minority in Korea, and you are not, either. I was and you are a foreigner. There is a difference.
English teachers in Korea are their own subculture and not representative of Americans in general. Save for one stereotypical southern good ol’ boy, I don’t know what my friends and colleagues back in the States think about race because it is never a topic of conversation. It’s not a big, pink elephant in the room avoidance. It’s just that there are no obvious racial tensions in my town (unlike the previous city where I lived), hence no reason to talk about race. The kids in my school mix easily regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, legal status, or gender. They behave this way because they know of no other way to behave. There is hope for America.
The Koreans never had a racism problem until they learned it from the Japanese. Blame Japan.
I’m never sure what to do on topics like the ones expat jane discusses (thanks for that post, by the way. Loved it.) My dear Christian friend once suggested, concerning the Abortion topic (as hot-button an issue in Christian circles as comfort women is for Koreans), that men should do more listening than talking during that dialogue, and maybe just avoid being prescriptive altogether.
Part of me, as a white male from Canada, wants to stay away from discussing racism at all, both because my experience of it is limited compared to, say, Expat Jane, and because my demographic is usually the one throwing stones, and I don’t want to be held responsible for crap I didn’t do. However, this gagging of discussion also means that I never gain any new insights about the topic, and never have an opportunity to ferret out prejudices I might have hiding in some dark corner, just because open discussion never brings them to light.
I certainly try not to bring racism up during my adult conversation classes very often, simply because A. by the very fact they’re open-minded enough to want to study English, my students are probably/usually not the ones who need to be called out on whatever racism exists in Korea, B. It creates a nasty dynamic wherein the general class posture is “lock elbows and defend Korea against the critical foreigner,” and C. I’m a white male; what the hell do I know about racism, really, and how can I compare my experience of it to other groups who OBVIOUSLY get the short end of the racism stick more than I do, having to *gasp* get a criminal background check [a perfectly sensible requirement] to maintain my E2 visa.
Sure, I loved Obama’s speech on Race Relations in America (over at
Metropolitician) listened to the whole thing twice, but I’m almost afraid to talk about racism at all, and I shut myself off from the chance of learning something, just because I don’t want to either offend someone, or get attacked. And that’s a shame, too, and I end up deleting my comment instead of posting it.
I’m happy to listen more than I speak, but where’s the forum where I can hash this stuff out safely, without someone jumping all over me the way my feminist ex-girlfriend made me feel like trash for stuff I didn’t do, and never believed, whenever we discussed sexism?
Sonagi: interesting point, that we’re not minorities, but foreigners.
I actually think classism is the bigger problem in Korea than racism. Korean racism often derives from the foundation of class prejudice. South Koreans discriminate against North Korean defectors here as well as ethnic Koreans from China because they are seen as “poor” and hence of “lower status,” yet ethnic Koreans from America don’t have the same prejudice to have to deal with most of the time because they come from a “rich” country. Here we see a class rather than race issue.
The fact is that there are many working-class whites here who are much poorer than many modern South Koreans, but South Koreans tend to mistakenly equate “white” with “rich.” This will slowly change.
I’m also sick and tired of hearing about “white privilege” which can be and often is deployed in a racist sense as well. I’m white but I do not come from a comfortable or privileged middle-class background. I worked in factories in high school and in crummy restuarants throughout college to support myself. Talking about “white privilege” is divisive and cuts off solidarities that could be established by differing races which share the same class interests.
Finally, I don’t entirely buy the foreigner vs. minority distinction. There are many Westerners here (like Gary Rector) who have adopted Korean citizenship. Are they still “foreigners”? And what about biracial or bicultural kids here with one Western or non-Korean parent? Ethnic Koreans born in the US are considered minorities so I would think bicultural kids here would fall into the same general category.
My mother and father split up when I was young and when I got the chance to be with my father often times it involved me going with him to work. He had a man named Rick Hackley, an African American ex-Charger offensive lineman, who worked as one of my father’s top managers. He was not only working with my father but is still a good friend. We used to drive around a lot and inspect various restaurants in the chain my father supervised. One day another manager trainee was driving with us and this gentleman asked Rick how many blacks worked for my father. It took Rick quite a while before he could stop laughing and actually answer the question. He finally said, “You can ask Bill that question but he’ll never be able to answer. The fact is he has no idea.”
This was in the 70’s and I think this is more and more the thinking of most Americans. At least I hope.
expatjane, i thought it was important that the audience get a different perspective on racism in korea. i am glad to have provided the link, and might i say that in the real world, you and i would get along just fine? you’re fair and that’s all i’m looking for when someone wants to be critical about koreans. you have my ear and i really dig your blog.
lastly, if you are ever up in the city by the bay again, here are three recommendations for good grub:
the stinking rose: it’s on columbus right at the edge of chinatown. all the dishes feature garlic. wonderful!
brother’s korean bbq: the best in the city! on geary past japantown going towards the richmond district. kimchi always tastes so fresh! and good mandoo too!
ft knox: south of market on third, i believe. soul food restaurant (yes, i love soul food). intersting thing is, vietnamese own the restaurant. lots of black folk there so you know it’s good!
have a good day, expatjane.
*****
yeah, thanks for the info regarding the copyright. i just put it there because i liked the way it looked.
Eh, well I’m gonna talk about abortion all I please, even if it does piss off a few Wal-Mart cashiers. Asking men to hold their tongue on abortion is akin to prohibiting women from talking about war or the military. For millennia entire generations of men have been murdered in the name of war, and children have been bred for the purpose of being slaughtered when they’re 18, but that shouldn’t disqualify the opinions of the population that was exempt.
Irregardless *cough*, here’s a story about a Korean daughter who wasn’t aborted. From Yahoo:
South Korean police said Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some 140,000 dollars from a bank.
The girl took cash and cheques on Thursday from a small safe under the desk in the VIP room of a bank in the southern island of Jeju, they said. The room was temporarily empty apart from the child.
The mother was arrested the same day after a closed-circuit TV clip showed the child near the safe. Police seized the money and cash as evidence.
“The mother insists she did not tell the kid to steal the money,” a detective told AFP by phone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....UeLe6ek3QF
Having taken Korean citizenship, Gary is not a foreigner. Many Koreans may view him as such, but he is an American-Korean, and thus, technically a minority, but there are so few “white Koreans” that they do not compose a group comparable to African-Americans, Korean-Americans or other hyphenated identities. Most Koreans, far from feeling threatened by Gary’s citizenship, are probably flattered that he has chosen to become Korean.
Biracial children with one Korean parent are also Korean, regardless of citizenship. The distinguishing question is this: Do you honestly consider yourself Korean? Gary Rector would answer “yes.” Most biracial Korean children would answer “yes.” Save possibly for Oranckay, I don’t think any non-ethnic Korean commenter here can honestly say that they identify themselves as Korean.
#21
For millennia entire generations of men have been murdered in the name of war, and children have been bred for the purpose of being slaughtered when they’re 18, but that shouldn’t disqualify the opinions of the population that was exempt.
you forgot to call everyone in the military the real terrorists, rapists and murderers
what gives???
#22: Sonagi, I hear what you are saying. My only point is that if you scratch the surface you will find many exceptions that destabilize a simple foreigner vs. minority dichotomy. Last week I got a check-up at Severance Hospital’s International Health Care Center and was examined by Dr. John Linton. I believe he is still a U.S. citizen but he was also born in South Korea and speaks Korean “like a native.” So legally or de jure he may be a foreigner but de facto I would say that he is more of a minority long-term resident of this land.
I’d just like to say that I appreciate your even-handed contributions to discussions on this forum.
We are finding common ground, King Baeksu, but disagree about numbers. You will not find “many” exceptions. People like Dr. Linton and Gary Rector are rarities. Heck, the non-ethnic Korean share of the population is less than 2%, and how many of those have made Korea a permanent home? Probably a few, possibly some, but definitely not many. As I’ve stated, citizenship is not the sole determinant of identity. Dr. Linton speaks Korean with a South Cholla accent, is married to a Korean, and has a Korean-born and raised daughter. He is an American-Korean, just like Gary Rector, even though he retains his US citizenship.
I’m going to explain something to you.
As offensive as it was to you to read that someone wrote that one thing s/he liked about Korea was its “relative absence of black and brown people”, what that person was really saying was that s/he likes Korea because it is safe. There is no major city in the United States where one can feel as secure in one person as in Seoul. The lack of threatened violent crime is palpable. So, it is not that the person had an irrational dislike of “black and brown people” simply because they were black and brown, but that that person enjoyed the opportunity to live safely in a society and resented that s/he could not enjoy the same safety in his/her home country.
#25: I appreciate your comments about self-identification and also agree with your about numbers.
Let me put it in slightly different terms. I’ve been in Korea long enough that I consider myself more of a minority than a foreigner, as far as my own self-identification goes, and I’m sure many other long-term expats here do as well. For instance, I’ve lived in Chongno since 1996 and when I go to the Insa-dong tourist center I often hear questions from other tourists that I can answer more readily than the staff there who are often volunteers and not always that familiar with Insa-dong. So as far as self-identification goes, I tend to consider myself a local at least in Chongno and think “minority” explains my position in South Korean society more accurately than “foreigner,” but perhaps that is just my own delusion.
Jesus, Dogbert. Equating minorities with the threat of crime isn’t going to make expat jane feel better about whatsisname’s post on Dave’s; it might inspire another post about latent racism, though.
Dogbert and Roboseyo, the most violence I’ve seen in Korea in one place has been right here at the whitey-dominated Hole.
Expatjane’s site continues to cause my computer to crash. Anyone else?
Anyway, dogbert’s right, both in his point and what the guy on Dave’s was trying to say. One thing that is nice about Korea is that, even though it is obviously very insular, it is insular because it wants to protect what it has, and doesn’t want it threatened by outsiders. We laugh at the “Hub of Asia” stuff, but at least Koreans take pride in what they have and work hard to improve. Right or wrong, some Koreans do fear foreigners because of what they represent . . . namely, the worst of Western values creeping in and upsetting a relatively safe, prosperous nation. (There are countless blogs and messageboards that debate the Foreign Menace, so I’m not interested in that right now). On the other hand you’ve got New York City declaring itself the Greatest City in the World, a title that’d only be true if you’re ranking drug deals, gang activity, wanton violence, and overhall assholery. I guess the biggest crime stories lately have been the murder of two kids in Anyang, the serial killer in Boseong, and the baseball player who killed his family. All horrible things, and all done without the help of foreigners or brown people, but all tame compared to what is considered acceptable behavior in Los Angeles: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/homicidereport/
Because of the crime and poverty that’s allowed to flourish in American cities and neighborhoods, we’ve got chunks of our country geographically off-limits to outsiders. The crime that goes on in my hometown on any given day—routinely voted among the most liveable cities in the US—would make any Korean cringe, and Koreans are right to not want to encourage that. To borrow from Chris Rock, it’s not the media that makes the streets unsafe after dark. Kind of bizarre that everyone is calling for “moderate” Muslims to hold the extremists accountable for terrorism, but it’s too politically incorrect to hold the black community accountable for the damage it does to American cities. It’s racist to say that black people are inherently prone to crime, but it’s not racist to say that the black and Latino communities are responsible for a great deal of it back home, and it’s nice to not live in a country committing demographic suicide.
Well said.
Brian and Dogbert, when I lived in Berlin for a year, most of the crime I witnessed first-hand involved neo-Nazis rather than ethnic minorities and they even once attacked my white (and relatively wealthy) West German friends one night. In line with my argument above I think this was a class issue as much as a race issue since most of those neo-Nazis I saw were definitely working-class. I would also argue that class is as much of a factor as race as far as the problems of U.S. cities and urban crime there are concerned.
Actually, I was in New York/Brooklyn last summer and it felt pretty safe there even late at night.
Yes, and one can say the same about Russia perhaps. However, the U.S. is the U.S. I stick to my original point which was that however racist the person “expatjane” referred to may be, what that person was expressing was not an aesthetic dislike of “brown and black people”, but praising the relative feeling of personal safety in a large-city environment in Korea vis-a-vis the U.S.
And personal anecdotes are just that. I was just today yelled at on 6th Avenue in broad daylight by an angry person of color who felt it necessary to get in my face about how “in this city, if you’re white you’re alright!” My crime: walking down the street minding my own business.
I won’t argue with anything you said, Brian — I’d be an blinded idiot to deny the kind of demographic suicide that occurs in a lot of inner cities; and I’ll even agree with King Baeksu that some of the sketchiest places in Seoul are the whitey-dominated holes; I’ve seen shoving matches break out all over Jongno among Korean salarymen, but the only place I’ve seen actual haymaker-throwing, pull-these-guys-off-of-each-other brawling was in Itaewon.
I didn’t take issue with Dogbert for arguing that Seoul doesn’t have the kind of inner city crime you see in a lot of cities in America (as well as the downtown east side of Vancouver, where I’m [approximately] from) — I agree with that, too; I’ve NEVER felt unsafe walking around Jongno at night, even around Seoul Station (aka Hobo Hostel).
I took issue with the facile connection of brown and black skin with crime — those inner-city wastelands are loaded with crime and despair, not because of the races living there, but because of concentrated population, the poverty and the perceived or real lack of ways out; the same kind of despair and ugliness can be found in the poor “white-trash” trailer parks of the deep south, can’t it?
It’s not a skin-colour problem; it’s a poverty problem, methinks; take people of any skin colour, ghettoize them, deny them opportunities or good schools, mix in a little despair, and maybe a few historical grievances, and you’ll see the same thing that happens in the black/brown ghettoes in these American cities.
I have a feeling that oversimplification/assumption that there’s crime because of the black/brown population might be what Expat Jane was reacting to. . . but who am I to talk, really? Care to correct me if I’m wrong, Expat Jane?
Dogbert, points taken.
I found that when I was at the airport in SF last year after a decade in Korea, I had a somewhat aggressive approach to line formation that was instinctive and definitely drew a few looks from others around me. It took me a while to readjust to local standards of body space and whatnot.
Good luck in NY and everything else.
Thanks, King Baeksu, I appreciate your good wishes. I wish you all the best and hope you keep on fighting the good fight.
Do you think that the Okies of 1930s America, who were as desperately poor as anyone in a tenement dreaming of “bling bling” today, were as prone to violent and senseless crime. I think not.
You know, statistics exist for these things.
I do agree that it is not a skin color problem; it is a cultural problem. Anyway, today’s urban criminals are not Jean Valjeans –let’s not pretend that street crime is committed by those seeking food for the children of their “babymommas”.
And, Roboseyo, has Canada eliminated its poor? Why are Canadians relatively safer from personal violence than Americans?
20. San Francisco is essentially home to me, even though I was born and raised in L.A., I’ve adopted it as my home. That’s where I went to law school and lived seven years of my life, so I know the Stinking Rose well. When I head back later this year I’ll check out the other two spots you mentioned.
26. “…what that person was really saying was that s/he likes Korea because it is safe.”
No, if the person wanted to say they liked Korea because it was safe then say they like it because it’s safe. That has nothing to do with the lack of blacks or Latinos here because I’ve roamed around Itaewon late at night and the people who scare me the most are the drunk white GIs.
Regarding the safety issue and feeling safer here, I’ve said the same thing on my blog a few times. There is no other city on earth where I feel safe enough after a night of drinking to actually walk home.
Since I also know that minorities aren’t the only people who randomly commit crimes against others I don’t isolate that sort of behavior to “black and Spanish people”. To do so is simply stupid.
28. roboseyo,
Please, Dogbert’s comment really isn’t worth me wasting my time writing an essay. Considering you don’t know much about me, try to direct the snippy comments elsewhere ’cause you’re showing just how much you’ve yet to figure out.
32. I’ve got to argee with this too, so here is a hat tip to King Baeksu for a great point. The last time I was in Berlin, I was terrified. It was so bad, I’ve pretty much sworn off Berlin as a place to vacation.
I was in living Prenzlauer Berg, an upper middle class mostly white neighborhood, for a month while I was taking a German course. I was essentially assaulted by a group of young white men. Assault being when you’re in fear that someone is going to physically hurt you and I was.
I was just in NYC last month and no matter where I roamed from the East Village to SoHo or uptown or downtown, I felt pretty safe. I felt much safer than I felt in Berlin for sure. People in NYC are really nice to me, but they’re nice to just about anyone who acts like they have some sense.
——
As for the “foreigner” vs. “minority” distinction. That’s fine, but it seems to shift the discussion to linguistic minutia when all that’s needed is to clear up the definitions. I appreciate the distinction as I’d not thought about it in detail, but, at the same time it shifts the focus away from the topic: the perspective of black and brown people who live here vs. the white (or white male) perspective. Nothing wrong with that perspective per se because on some topics they actually converge, but you can’t deny it dominates the discussion most of the time.
I know that pit bulls aren’t the only dogs who can (and do) kill children, but if my children are to be around dogs, I’d feel safer if the dogs in question were, say, golden retrievers or labs. Capisch?
ExpatJane, Berlin’s a great town and as long as you’re rolling with a solid crew you’ll be fine.
When those 4 neo-Nazi skinheads attacked us, my giant red-haired Wessie friend beat the shit out of their loud-mouthed but diminutive leader so bad that his buddies finally had to drag him away to lick his wounds because it was such a sorry sight.
All hat and no cattle, as they say in Texas.
37: Dogbert: cram all those poor Okies into a few city blocks of living space and the situation might have been different; I think the population density is another exacerbating factor on poverty, and yeah, you’re right that they’re not all Jean Valjeans; I don’t know enough to comment more on that. (maybe not enough to comment on any of this)
I also really like what King Baeksu said about it being a class problem; I think I was trying to say something similar in my post, but used more words.
38: I never said Canada has cared for all their poor; Vancouver’s downtown eastside has a shorter average life expectancy and a higher HIV/Aids infection rate than any other neighbourhood in north america (see paragraph 2, post 34.), and walking down the street there is pretty sketchy, too.
And yeah, I was a bit snippy in my initial two-liner and the last sentence of my longer post; SHOULD have checked my wording, should NOT have spoken for Expat Jane and how she feels about what other people write. Fair’s fair, my bad.
39 Expat Jane: thanks for weighing in; I was interested to hear what you had to say. I’m fully aware I have a lot to figure out, but haven’t had many opportunities to have those conversations. I know you’ve blogged before about your frustration with the white expat male english teacher in seoul, and I’m not trying to butt heads with you, nor is it your responsibility to guide me toward a better grip on these issues, of course, but I’m still a work in progress, so pardon my initial clumsy fumblings into the fray. I’ve visited your blog before and I enjoy it.
Thanks, everybody for all the food for thought. Hope I didn’t step on anybody’s toes overmuch, and I wish the best for each of you. Now I’m going to go out and enjoy downtown Seoul. Hope you all have good ones, too.
Happy belated weekend to you all, even Pawi. What a night I have planned, EPL double header and $2 beers. Whoot Whoot!
#42: ” Now I’m going to go out and enjoy downtown Seoul. Hope you all have good ones, too.”
While we’re on the subject of inner-city violence, watch out for the ajummas and agasshis downtown. They may not carry actual shanks, but sometimes their elbows feel pretty close to it, and on a rainy day like today umbrellas just make things that much more dangerous.
One big difference between Korean “racism” and racism in the West- In America, blacks get pulled over for driving nice cars, even when they do nothing wrong. In Korea, whites are told to keep driving, even when they do do something wrong.
Extrapolate as needed.
# 15, 39
How long will you par-take in continuing to beat the same old drum?
‘Minority white man drops out’
http://michellemalkin.com/2008.....en-dumber/
As a white man I’ve experienced gender and racism in America. I know a little about what it’s like. And, you don’t know much about racism/foreignerism/outsiderism in Korea regardless of your attempt.
Simply put…You like S. Korea’s racism more tolerable or whatever you said because it’s different. Why don’t you try giving it more time and then report back?
Knowing Oranckay as intimately as I do, I can guarantee you that je doesn’t consider himself Korean… He’s a white American who’s very much at ease in the Korean society — and much more so than the US society he’s now living in. But his only passport is US, and had he wanted to take the Korean citizenship, he’d had enough opportunities in the last couple of decades…
Of course it isn’t a skin color problem… If it were, cities like New York and San Francisco would have been downright peaceful places back around the turn of the (20th) century, rather than places where murders and shanghais happened nightly. ‘Course, they both used to be pretty damn peaceful, until the fucking Irish showed up (kidding!).
nice to see this place liven up a bit. anyway, just think the following is interesting:
오늘은 ‘sti’로 시작하는 단어 중에서 찌르는 느낌을 주는 단어들을 묶어서 효율적으로 기억해 보도록 합시다. sting은 벌 같은 곤충이 ‘쏘다’의 뜻입니다. stingy는 ‘스팅이’처럼 발음하면 ‘찌르는’의 뜻이지만 ‘스틴지’로 발음하면 ‘인색한’의 뜻입니다. 좀스럽게 바늘 같은 것으로 찌르는 느낌으로 ‘스팅이’가 변한 것으로 보이는 말입니다. stink는 ‘악취가 코를 찌르는’ 것을 뜻합니다. stimulus는 ‘자극’을 의미하고 동사형은 stimulate입니다. stick은 찌를 수 있는 도구인 ‘막대기’를 뜻하기도 하고 ‘찌르다’의 의미로 사용 되기도 합니다. stitch는 바늘로 한 번 찌르는 ‘한 땀’을 뜻합니다. “A stitch in time saves nine.”이라는 속담이 있죠. 제 때에 한 땀 꿰매는 것이 나중에 아홉 번 꿰맬 수고를 덜어준다는 말입니다. stigma는 죄인이나 노예를 불로 달군 ‘쇠꼬챙이로 지진 흔적’을 뜻하던 말로 ‘오명’, ‘오점’, ‘치욕’의 뜻으로 쓰입니다. stigma는 또한 ‘성흔’을 뜻하기도 합디다. 성흔은 성스러운 흔적이라는 말로 십자가에 못박힌 그리스도의 상처 같은 모양이 손바닥에 나타나는 증상을 말합니다.
i didn’t know that! of course, i never thought about it.
I had a similar experience on the subway in Seoul, and the thugs screaming anti-American slurs made it very clear why they were threatening me. However, I agree that Seoul is, overall, very safe.
Agree strongly with you that North Americans of different ethnicities view their experiences in Korea through different prisms. I was not trying to derail the conversation. I simply objected to your misuse of “minority” and attempt to put the blame for Korean prejudice on white people.
I had a look around your blog and noticed that you have definitely gotten the foreign celebrity treatment. As King Baeksu noted correctly, classism is a much bigger issue than racism. A highly educated, dark-skinned American woman like yourself gets photo ops with stars who probably couldn’t be bothered to talk to Joseonjok from Guro-dong. I never got any photos taken with entertainers! I’m so jealous!
RE: poverty and race
I am a public school teacher, and I see the same kinds of disruptive, self-defeating behaviors in poor white and black native-born children. Interestingly enough, I do not see these behaviors so much in immigrant children of the same socioeconomic class. Meth is a growing problem in the US; the producers (and users) are mostly white and often set up shop in small towns and rural areas.
We have the kyopos bitching about the expats, but I wonder whether the kyopos know that by attacking the expat they are also attacking themselves?
The kyopos accuse the expat of being “deadbeats”, of “washing on Korea’s shores”, etc. But has the kyopo also looked him/herself in the mirror? Some kyopos “wash up on Korean shores” and themselves benefit from Korean society by teaching English, dealing in drugs, and entering the entertainment industry. Sound familiar? They are making money unimaginable had they stayed in the States or Canada, for that matter, and would have been “deadbeats” to boot. Look what happened to Steve Yoo when he went back to the States after getting kicked out of Korea.
The kyopo, with the exception of skin color, is literally the same as the expat. My advice to the kyopo. Think before you open your mouth and don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
I have been attacked both in Korea and France for being, basically, a white male. Of course, as a Frenchman, being attacked in France for being white is quite different from what happened in Korea; in France, it was was is politely called a ‘youth’ in the media, aka an Arab, full of anger, hate, spite, and probably looking for a quick score. ‘t would be difficult to call that anti-minority racism, but it was peppered with racist insults nonetheless.
OTOH, the few times I was assaulted in Korea, it was plain alcohol-fueled racism, without any greed driving the office workers wanting a piece of my hide. And in a way, although there was blood involved in all cases, Korea always felt a lot safer than France. Go figure…
I want to ask a serious question about Obama.
People questioned his patriotism with the Rev. Wright soundbite. Long suspected, audio provided as indirect influence on his mind.
Who asked him about race?
How did Senator Obama parlay this into a speech about race?
You know, I get the feeling that every question about his candidacy ends up being on accusation from his part that,
People are doing this to him, because he is half African American.
Is that right?
Remember the time Clintons were considered honorary black Americans?
Obama changed that in a hurry.
Is that right?
He says he’s a Christian.
He didn’t go to Easter service. He went on a vacation in the Caribbeans.
I don’t know of any Christian who calls himself a Christian who does that.
Ask a Catholic, a Protestant. You make sure you attend at least Christmas and Easter.
He’s a politician. QED.
How clean he is, you decide. November, 2008.
I pass on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. ..He(Jesus) was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the thid day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his folowers at one time, most of whom are still alive..(1Corinthian)
Are these all man-made lies as some fictions suggest, or was this the reliable Truth?
Isn’t life itself funny? Are we here because of some random events or by the intricate design of the Supreme Being?
Your future destination(after death) may lie in your decision on this issue.
#55:
Um…man-made lies?
I heard the whole speech on youtube yesterday. Great speech, and he’s still the guy I’d like to see y’all migooks elect.
My only nitpick was the contrast between “my former pastor Reverend Wright” is a man I can no more disown than I can disown my own grandmother…”. Reverend Wright’s words were called misguided, offensive, inflammatory, unhelpful, etc., to distance Obama from the Rev, plus that “former pastor” line got a couple repeats. And yet Obama still managed to insert a really quite good statement of loyalty to the Rev, who officiated his wedding and baptized his daughters.
A good performance from a man who, while speaking well about weighty subjects, still had to carefully find the words to let him have it both ways. It may be looked back upon as a landmark speech in America’s never-ending conversations with itself about race, and if it is, it’ll be too bad that political necessity is so evident in some parts.
Technical issues: last week a techie from KT showed up at the door the rewire me, for free, with a faster internet cable. I think that’s the day I became “French”, but I have no idea how that works. You’ve been warned.
Pawi, it’s sweet to see you warming up to Expat Jane, and completely reasonable that you would, since she’s a blogging apologist for racism in Korea. But, have you heard her interview on the topic on Metro’s podcast? …the one where she politely and round-aboutly says that Korean men just aren’t man enough for her? If she was a male expat in Korea suggesting the same thing, you’d have been spewing plenty of your hate her (his?) way. Still enamored by her smile?
dogbert, you’re living in NYC?
That’s right. Are you back in the U.S. too?
Yeah, I’m in Maryland. I’ll be traveling up to the NYC area to
visit family about twice a month. I think I still have your e-mail,
if not I’ll ask JT or Camel.
#22 Irregardless, is not a word. Mental masturbators love though!
Love it though