Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Chris2007]

[Rufus]

What about the term "gook"?

[Konglishman]

[dmbfan]

[VanIslander]

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

and yet it is made from Chinese cabbage. Strange.

[hogwonguy1979]

the author of this article says it all...


...jon heuer butt kissing gyopo of the year

[Scotticus]

[moosehead]

so K wants to be remembered as smelly, sour, acid-reflux-inducing, nasty looking, unappealing, not-all-it's-cracked-up-to-be??

yeah, ok, works for me.

[John_ESL_White]

Thanks for providing an article for discussion for my morning adult class.

[Robot_Teacher]

Does kimchee cure swine flu cases?


Kimchee, like German saur kraut, sustained human civilizations for thousands of years through cold Winters when no vegetables were available to provide vitamin C and other nutrients. It's a basic survival food and makes good sense if you don't have a global economy consistently and reliably bringing in fruits and vegetables as was the case until recent times.

I prefer the fruits and vegetables over fermented cabbage, but I understand why fermented cabbage is eaten and that's Winter and Spring food when nothing is growing and producing in temperate climates. Today, Korea eats kimchee, not for sustaining nutrition through the cold Winters, but in attempt to preserve a traditional national identity. Little is traditional about Korea on the surface, but the mentality is traditional mindset meets the 21st century in a struggle to preserve traditionalism while ambitiously turning into a modern international hi tech civilization becuase the government said to do so, but the people seem to be indifferent on internationalizing. Kimchee is King.

How does Korea live without Prilosec OTC omeprazole tablets not being commonly available?

[xeno439]

[Robot_Teacher]

While off topic, thanks for the interesting read. Interesting I grew up thinking a gook is derogatory term referring to Asians, particularly Vietnamese, and then came to Asian to hear gook in many gookish ways of speaking, but it's not that simple. Hangook is Korea for, "High country." Waygook is foreigner, but a Korean is not called a, "gook." And then we have Migooks for Americans. Other Western nationals are not called gooks. Mi means, "beautiful land," and I guess the gook is referring to the people as in," the gooks."

The Americans learnt it in Korea back in the 50's and then used it derogatorily in Vietnam. This is America's Asian word vocabulary invention that Korea seems to not see controversy in using, but I do. Are we in the land of gooks or what? It sounds so racists, xenophobic, and hateful to use gook.

Seem this gook thing is more negative than positive, but it's a part of common Korean speaking.

[madoka]

[Panda]

Popular food doesnt equal to healthy food, we all know that, just like I dont understand why North Americans drink Coke while it is just some sugared water. I know Koreans who cant live without Kimchi, but I also know many foreigners who would get sick without indulging themself once in a while with junk food.

However, people only laugh at Koreans' mania to Kimchi but not at others' mania to donuts is probably because Koreans have tried way toooooooooo hard to beautify a food which actually isnt of that many functions.

Try to picture a day when Americans brag about how Coke can cure ADHD...