Open Thread #117

by Robert Koehler on September 12, 2009

in Open Thread

Nice all week, and NOW it rains?

{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }

1 stumbler September 12, 2009 at 9:54 am: I can take the rain, as long as the cool temps continue…
2 John from Daejeon September 12, 2009 at 10:13 am: For those who can only find nasty things to say about South Korean hagwons/cram schools: http://englishteacherx.blogspot.com/

It seems that there are unscrupulous, money-hungry owners the world over.
3 abcdefg September 12, 2009 at 10:43 am: Hi.

Any genius here know how to block permissions or do something to disable the ability to move a very particular file on a computer?

So in other words, currently, I’m able to drag and move any file from folder to folder. Is there any way that I can block this capability for one particular file?

I’m using Windows XP.

Thanks.
4 Jim_Kim September 12, 2009 at 11:28 am: I watched a program called “Foreign Teachers and Clubs” last night. It was the best ever. Three Eastern Euros played American teachers. The show was clearly fake but might have looked real to a younger person. Basically, the teachers were rapists, womanizers, etc. They even showed a scene were a foreigner raped a K-girl after meeting in a club. The show was so awful that it was funny but it probably helped strenghten the stigma that E-teachers are all rapists, druggies, and womanizers.
5 shakuhachi September 12, 2009 at 1:36 pm: Is EVE ONLINE worth playing? Anyone play it?
6 Adams-awry September 12, 2009 at 2:06 pm: @1 The rain is ok. The lightning sucks.
@2 Tell us something we don’t know.
@3 Err…
@4 And the Hwang Woo Suk scandal convinced me that all Koreans were fraudulent scientists.
@5 Wiki the fuck out of it.
7 gbevers September 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm: These days it seems like red-carpet events are almost a weekly occurence in here Korea. Believe it or not, I am getting tired of all the fake-boob shots, the stair-steppers, and all the goofy-looking outfits.

Also, I think all the media coverage of such silliness is having a bad influence on Korean students. It seems like more and more female students are just coming to school to show off their short skirts and high heels while walking around like fashion models. I do not even see them carrying books. Can people really study in 6-inch heels and skirts so short that they cannot sit down without covering themselves? Such girls are not coming to school to study.
8 McGenghis September 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm: Every time I take my trusty Samcheolly out to the Gangwon hills, I’m amazed at the sheer amount of roads and bridges that Korea has built. Coming from rural eastern Canada, where crossing a river often means using a beaver dam, I have to express gratitude to the Korean highway department.

Any Canadian worth his salt will not disturb a beaver, basically. Unless he is trying to turn him into a hat.
9 Adams-awry September 12, 2009 at 5:16 pm: While in the pub last night, I overheard some geeks debating the tits off ‘object pronouns.’ Essentially, the question was whether the following sentence was right:

“Listen to me, who am your friend.”

As most of the people on this site are English teachers, and as most seem to think they are the final authority on all things grammatical, I beg your input. (For the record, I don’t think anything is wrong with it.)

And for those who are as hung-over as I, and are a little slow to see the problem, the antagonists claimed it better put:

“Listen to me, who is your friend.”

Well?
10 shakuhachi September 12, 2009 at 5:20 pm: Adams-awry , not sure but that could be a logical fallacy. Both choices could be incorrect.

How about, “listen to me, I who am your friend”.
11 hamel September 12, 2009 at 5:45 pm: Yeah well what about this, then?
1) It’s me who is tired
(2) It’s I who is tired
(3) It’s me who am tired .
(4) It’s I who am tired.

Look here for answers:
http://www.google.co.kr/search?complete=1&hl=ko&newwindow=1&q=%22me+who+is%22+%22me+who+am%22+relative+clause&lr=&aq=f&oq=
12 Adams-awry September 12, 2009 at 6:05 pm: And Micosoft Word hates this:

I am a man who have no wish on earth but you glory and happiness.

But this guy loves it.
13 hamel September 12, 2009 at 6:18 pm: I don’t like “you glory and happiness.”
14 Adams-awry September 12, 2009 at 6:23 pm: Oh bloody hell! It should have been your. Sorry.
15 Nomad September 12, 2009 at 6:34 pm: #3,

You can right-click the file and make it hidden but you’ll also have to go to folder options and turn off “show hidden files and folders.”
If you want to change security permissions for different users, on XP Pro you first have to go into windows explorer, tools, folder options, and then under “view”, scroll all the way down and uncheck “use simple file sharing”, this will bring up the security tab when you right click on a file or folder, which will allow you to set permissions. Also, you can do this but I don’t recommend it…if you reload the OS, or have to copy that file to another computer, you’re hosed.
16 Sonagi September 12, 2009 at 8:51 pm: I learned something new last night. Female immigrants who between the ages of 11 and 26 who wish to obtain permanent residency or become US citizens must get the Gardasil vaccine along with about 12 other shots. US citizens are not required to get the HPV vaccine, of course, although it is being heavily promoted in some schools and community clinics. Most of the other vaccines required of immigrants are also are required of school children; however, some states allow waivers.
17 Bipolar Mindscrew September 12, 2009 at 9:08 pm: I wondered how long it would take before somebody made a movie about this…

http://www.itaewon2009.co.kr
18 SomeguyinKorea September 13, 2009 at 12:21 am: I saw a movie on TV a few weeks back that was made in the 80′s (cheesy music, awkward dubbing) that was quite racist. The first word of title totally slipped my mind (the second is ”woman” in Korean, if I remember correctly).

The leading lady gets involved with a creepy photographer; most foreign characters appear to spend their nights drinking, taking drugs and chasing skirts; a black guy breaks into a hotel room, beats up the white guy, rapes the Korean lady, and the white guy is shown to enjoy the show…Does it ring any bells?
19 StevieBee September 13, 2009 at 12:52 am: @Adams-awry

“As most of the people on this site are English teachers, and as most seem to think they are the final authority on all things grammatical, I beg your input.”

Sorry, but whose input are you after exactly?

Anyways, it should be: “Listen to me, who is your friend.”

Why? Well I reckon it goes a little something like this: ‘Listen’ requires an object, hence ‘me’ and not ‘I’. That object can’t then suddenly be transformed into a subject in a relative clause, therefore the relative pronoun ‘who’ refers to the objective ‘me’. Seeing as ‘am’ can only follow the subjective ‘I’, and the ‘who’ doesn’t refer to a subjective ‘I’, then the verb form must indicate the ‘not-I’, viz.: is. QED and I hereby claim my five pounds.
20 StevieBee September 13, 2009 at 12:54 am: Also, @Bipolar Mindscrew

That film looks fucking ace. Is it a documentary or something?
21 Robin Hedge September 13, 2009 at 4:00 am: No one have a word about the US/DPRK direct talks upcoming?
22 WangKon936 September 13, 2009 at 7:01 am: Interesting article on the design of the modern day Chevy Camero. The design team head is a Korean native, Lee Sangyup.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=109195#52
23 PineForest September 13, 2009 at 8:59 am: blockquote

This is getting really, really bad. If I were an English teacher in Seoul I might start worrying about my safety. It’s getting to be about the same as Nazi era films on the evils of the Jews. All they need to do is mix in clips of wharf rats running around in between rape scenes.
24 PineForest September 13, 2009 at 9:16 am: oops, I screwed up my blockquote in the above comment.

I watched a program called “Foreign Teachers and Clubs” last night. It was the best ever. Three Eastern Euros played American teachers. The show was clearly fake but might have looked real to a younger person. Basically, the teachers were rapists, womanizers, etc. They even showed a scene were a foreigner raped a K-girl after meeting in a club. The show was so awful that it was funny but it probably helped strenghten the stigma that E-teachers are all rapists, druggies, and womanizers.
25 theotherkorean September 13, 2009 at 9:19 am: The design team head is a Korean native, Lee Sangyup.

Interesting, bit of trivia. Wonder if the Korean government will give tax credits to Koreans who buy non-Korean cars designed by Koreans? Maybe not.

I’ve noticed that some of the Kyopo commentators here have a tendency to post stuff that says Korea/Koreans achieved this, hey there’s this interesting fact about Korea that you didn’t know, etc as if they were showing pride in being ethnic Korean and what Korea/Koreans have achieved. OK, if they want to show Korean pride, it’s their choice. But, at the same time, I can’t help but notice that the same Kyopos will in a heartbeat turn around and bash or look down on Koreans, for some reason or another.

I believe there’s a psychological complex that describes the particular condition mentioned above.
26 gbevers September 13, 2009 at 10:12 am: Steviebee (#19),

Yes, “Listen to me, who is your friend” is correct, but it is still a silly sentence. The following sentence is much better.

“Listen to me because I’m your friend.”
27 gbevers September 13, 2009 at 10:38 am: Wait! I take back what I wrote in #25. I am now thinking that “Listen to me, who am your friend” sounds more correct. Also, consider the following example:

“I am talking to you, who are nothing but a liar.”

Doesn’t the above sentence sound better than the following?

“I am talking to you, who is nothing but a liar”?
28 abcdefg September 13, 2009 at 10:52 am: You can right-click the file and make it hidden but you’ll also have to go to folder options and turn off “show hidden files and folders.”

Not what I’m looking for.

If you want to change security permissions for different users, on XP Pro you first have to go into windows explorer, tools, folder options, and then under “view”, scroll all the way down and uncheck “use simple file sharing”, this will bring up the security tab when you right click on a file or folder, which will allow you to set permissions. Also, you can do this but I don’t recommend it…if you reload the OS, or have to copy that file to another computer, you’re hosed.

I have Windows XP; the option you write of doesn’t seem to exist.

Thanks anyway, Mr. Nomad.

I’m still looking to lock a file at a particular folder location. Any more suggestions would be great.
29 abcdefg September 13, 2009 at 11:08 am: “Listen to Bever, who is your friend”

“Listen to Bever’s dog, who is your friend”

“Listen to Bever’s friends, who are your friends”

“Listen to yourself, who are your friend”

“Listen to you, who are your friend”

“Listen to you, who is your friend”

“Listen to Shaggy, me, who is your friend”

“Listen to Shaggy, me, who am your friend”

“Listen to me, who is your friend”

I lack the grammatical language to explain why I think so, but when I sort out the possibilities above, it seems “Listen to me, who is your friend” is the logical choice.
30 JW September 13, 2009 at 11:27 am: Hey, has anyone come across or read the book called “We Married Koreans: Personal stories of American women with Korean husbands”

From the title alone, one might think they survived through the gulags or something.

No but seriously, I think I’m gonna try to get it.

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/09/13/2009091300145.html
http://www.amazon.com/Married-Koreans-Gloria-Goodwin-Hurh/dp/1605942154/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252808584&sr=1-1
31 WeikuBoy September 13, 2009 at 11:42 am: Listen to me, as I am your friend.

I clicked on the link in the “nude” female golfer story, and had to go to Asian Sirens immediately to cleanse the image from my mind.

Good to know there ARE limits to Fever Blindness.
32 WeikuBoy September 13, 2009 at 11:46 am: I know better than to expect any answers, but …

I want my new laptop to be able to read/write Korean and Chinese. What is the best and easiest way to retrofit such capability?
Downloads from Microsoft to Windows and/or Explorer?
Thanks to anyone who responds.

– WeikuBoy in the Tropics
33 Mizar5 September 13, 2009 at 12:15 pm: View –>Encoding –> choose Korean. Toggle the letter at the bottom left of your screen to enable Korean letters. The A changes to �� (ga) and you can type in Korean. If you don’t have a Korean keyboard and don’t know the position of the Korean characters on the keyboard, google it and print it out.
34 R. Elgin September 13, 2009 at 12:25 pm: . . . or . . .

Listen to me, you have no friends. Buy me another drink.

“weiku”, try this search link for more answers:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=windows+chinese+input&aq=3&aqi=g10&oq=windows+chin&fp=6d02e072335ea48a

or buy an Apple machine. They just do it without any fuss.
35 Bipolar Mindscrew September 13, 2009 at 12:27 pm: RE: A Murder in Itaewon (I think that’s the English title)… I posted yesterday just before stepping out… apparently is about the notorious Burger King stabbing… documentary? Unlikely… in fact, it’s already hit theaters.
36 Sperwer September 13, 2009 at 12:27 pm: If you don’t have a Korean keyboard and don’t know the position of the Korean characters on the keyboard, google it and print it out.

At any book/stationery store in country, you also can get a set of stickons for the keyboard that show both the roman and hangul letters.

Additionally, in addition to the technique outlined by Mizar, you can install the language bar that will enable you to toggle back and forth between English and Korean at any time (although it won’t enable you to change anything generated by the operating system, as opposed to any particular application – for that you’d have to set-up your machine with dual operating systems.)
37 Nomad September 13, 2009 at 2:30 pm: #28

If you don’t have a Security tab when you right click a file/folder, there are different steps depending on which version of XP you have, for example XP Pro or XP Home. And remember, Google is your friend
38 hamel September 13, 2009 at 6:44 pm: What about using a “neutral interjective subject”(TM) in order to make it sound more natural:
Listen to me, someone who is your friend.

Or what about eliding the relative clause altogether:
Listen to me, your friend.

And that segues very nicely into my Seinfeldian observation:
“Have you ever noticed that Korean learners of English will use relative clauses more than native speakers will?”

Seriously, this is for me one of the hallmarks of what I term “ArirangTV English.” I notice it also in English translations of Korean writing, in original writing by Koreans, and in conversation.

All of you who have read this far, think: when was the last time you used a non-restrictive relative clause (the type delineated by commas) in conversation with another English speaker.

See the example (thanks, Wiki
I met a man and a woman yesterday. The woman, who had a thick French accent, was very pretty.

I don’t speak like this, and I rarely write like this. I think these kind of relative clauses are (becoming) moribund in English usage. Hence, as a grammatical descriptivist, my aversion to sentences like:
Listen to me, who [verb of choice here] your friend.
39 inkevitch September 13, 2009 at 8:18 pm: “listen to me, who is your friend”

Why does this sound awkward? To me it is because the first section is spoken in the first person, the second section is spoken in the third person. I don’t know if that is enough to render it grammatically incorrect, but it does make it roll off the tongue poorly.

I am preety sure anyone would say it like “You should listen to me as your friend”
40 Arghaeri September 13, 2009 at 8:27 pm: I don’t know about grammatically but in natural speech I’m sure most would just say, “Listen to me, I’m your friend” and “I’m talking to you, you’re nothing but a liar.”
41 Arghaeri September 13, 2009 at 8:33 pm: #17 & #35 Bipolar, go back a few weeks on the Marmot and you will find the discussions in the subject…
42 PineForest September 14, 2009 at 8:28 am: Interesting take on the dark side of tourism in Thailand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Bjmemu474&feature=PlayList&p=3D3B16C0EE74EB24&index=0&playnext=1
43 cmm September 14, 2009 at 9:12 am: WTF… is this the Marmot’s Hole, or is this a post that maybe should be on Dave’s? Grammar debates, really? Zzz…

I guess this post, up until this point, just shows how important the stupid stuff that penisboy and NK say are to keeping things interesting around here.
44 Brendon Carr September 14, 2009 at 9:37 am: WTF… is this the Marmot’s Hole, or is this a post that maybe should be on Dave’s? Grammar debates, really? Zzz…

Only problem is, most of the posters on Dave’s aren’t able to engage in that sort of discussion.
45 Bipolar Mindscrew September 14, 2009 at 10:41 pm: Arghaeri… really? Hmm. Oh well.

Not sure if anybody’s interested but the protest zombies have mobilized again. This time they’re taking on the evil Jin Young Park Entertainment in an effort to get Korea-hater J-Bum back in 2 PM.

http://www.allkpop.com/index.php/full_story/2000_mobilize_at_jype_building_in_a_silent_protest/

(Not sure if the link is working. AllKPop seems down right now.)
46 R. Elgin September 15, 2009 at 8:19 am: Actually, that is interesting “B_M”.
47 R. Elgin September 15, 2009 at 8:56 am: We just had our 10th drive-by mosquito fogging this morning.
Gwanak-gu officials said they had told the “volunteers” to not do it, more than once, but people do what they want to do unless the police actually arrest someone.

Vigilante public health and a flu-panicked central government is a bad thing to have anywhere.
48 Arghaeri September 15, 2009 at 9:08 am: http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/08/19/trailer-for-itaewon-murder-case/
49 KrZ September 15, 2009 at 11:24 am: What is your obsession with the thermal fogging? Do you have some biochemical mechanism in mind by which they are poisoning the purity of essence of your precious bodily fluids?
50 cmm September 15, 2009 at 12:49 pm: KrZ, that’s just part of what Elgin does. He likes to go on about mosquito fogging, asbestos in the subway, and how evil China is.
51 Sperwer September 15, 2009 at 1:10 pm: Vigilante public health and a flu-panicked central government is a bad thing to have anywhere.

The solution is counter-vigilantism. I’ve used it repeatedly on Korean taxi drivers and motorbikers, and I like to show up at construction sites in my neighborhood operating outside of legal noise-making hours with my Sheriff Bufford axe-handle and make threatnein gestures. Works for me; your mileage may differ (I’ve got a get out of jail free card).
52 R. Elgin September 15, 2009 at 2:04 pm: Sorry if you don’t understand why this is not good guys, it’s just that even the Gwanak Gu Office can’t control anything and I end up having to suddenly jump up from sleeping and run to shut the windows before these jerks fog this pesticide up in my place. They do this drive-by strike without telling anyone and are gone before I have a chance to throw a brick at them. If they announced what they were doing, people could prepare but they don’t care. They only care that a mosquito bit someone and, as a result, they must make everyone suffer their stupidity.

“cmm” that is the CCP is vile, not the people.
53 KrZ September 15, 2009 at 2:08 pm: Chocolate can kill your dog, yet you find it delicious, and you share a lot more in common, biologically, with your dog than you do with mosquitoes. That fog they are spraying isn’t Zyklon-B.
54 SomeguyinKorea September 15, 2009 at 2:20 pm: Patrick Swayze, actor, dancer, half of one of the funniest SNL skits ever (with Chris Farley) has just died.
55 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 September 15, 2009 at 7:01 pm: is it because you white guys were brought up to be politically correct that no one mentions the Serena Williams thing?

you guys are pussies.

oh, and by the way, do the male Koreans a public service, and stop calling us homos.
56 Darth Babaganoosh September 15, 2009 at 7:38 pm: SomeguyinKorea, does that mean it’s time to make the long-awaited sequel to Ghost
57 seouldout September 15, 2009 at 8:30 pm: is it because you white guys were brought up to be politically correct that no one mentions the Serena Williams thing?

Nah, we’ve all got yellow fever and she ain’t yellow. Not even a high yellow.
58 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 September 15, 2009 at 8:54 pm: dancing around the subject.

You are a pussy.
59 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 September 15, 2009 at 9:16 pm: what about Kanye West and Taylor Swift?

Nothing racial there, too, right?

Is America full of pussies?

Kanye is not. Let me translate his work for you.
I am angry at the whiteman.
I am angry at the white girl.
I am angry, angry, angry.
I can use the N word, but if you use it, you’re a racist.
Republicans are racist.
I am angry, angry, angry.
60 Sperwer September 15, 2009 at 9:41 pm: Would someone please give WJK his thorazine.
61 Acropolis7 September 16, 2009 at 5:26 am: Kanye is as President Obama put it a “Jackass”. A jackass who also suffers from little man syndrome. If it were Christina Aguliera or Pink who got the award then he would have not have gotten on stage. He picked on a little 19 year old girl because he is a pussy and a “jackass”. His rep has been destroyed. When I saw him and his date arrive sipping Cognac on the red carpet I knew there was going to be trouble. Beyonce put the icing on the cake when she called back Taylor to have her moment. Kanye is finished.
62 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 September 17, 2009 at 9:18 am: No, in America, if you are non white, you can get away with a lot of things. It would be ‘discrimination’ to do that to people who deserve it.

ex) Jesse Jackson.(impreganted his campaign sec. Moksanim? Fake.
Kobe Bryant.(Now, even children can wear #8, which changed.)
Allen Iverson.(NBA boy threw his wife outside naked.)

Classy.
63 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 September 17, 2009 at 9:21 am: Kanye will have another album saying how hard it is to be black, because whites are bothering him so much. Taylor Swift’s music is bad, because she’s white, and Beyonce is better, because she’s black. That’s all he’s sayin’.

America actually likes the country white girls in music today. Kanye has had a problem with that these past few years, and that’s how he expressed it. Represent.