Korean Job Discussion Forums

thorin · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

his letter:

http://news.media.daum.net/foreign/englishnews/200312/24/korherald/v5853579.html

our conversation (scroll down):

http://konglish.org/speak-american/

VanIslander · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

Trying to dodge the obscenity filter, eh?

A mod should be along shortly.

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

thorin · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

I think he's "right" about idiom. Now you've gone and proved his point. He's probably the only qualified English teacher in Korea who never makes a mistake but I bet his students are bored to death with him preaching this crap.

Here's a letter in response to his:

http://news.media.daum.net/foreign/englishnews/200312/26/korherald/v5869221.html

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Some of his example points are so obivously wrong though.....

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

thorin · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

Here are a some more gems from our conversation:

Pligganease · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: The deep south...

What a funny guy! Here's a word for him...

Dumassity

I'll use it in a sentence...

Paul Dunn-Morris is full of dumassity.

Rolling Eyes

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

Peace oot.

thorin · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

Pyongshin Sangja, this isn't an anti-Canada post. I thought up until a minute ago, and when I made the puppet state remark, that the guy was a Brit. I like your posts here and I'm sorry if I offended you. As for his real workplace, I didn't post it here. His real name is in the Korea Herald letters. If you want to know my real name and workplace, click on the www, then click "about". If you want to see what I look like, click "photos". I'm not hiding like the wizard of Oz behind some avatar. My ID, as I've pointed out many times, is my real name. If Paul or any of you find yourself in Daegu and want to come up the mountain to my office and visit me, I'll make green tea and we'll talk.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Teacher, teacher! Wherefore art thou teacher?

=========================================
These "teachers" are not even aware that "fun is not an adjective; it is a noun (incorrectly used by the uneducated as an adjective). "But that"s the way people use it!" they reply. Well, that is true. Many people use "fun" in that way, but that is because they are uneducated, not because it is right. "But the language is changing!" they say. Well, yes that is true. More and more people are illiterate and more and more people use the language badly. But that does not mean we have to copy them.
by Paul Dunn-Morris
[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR] Korea needs real English
http://news.media.daum.net/foreign/englishnews/200312/24/korherald/v5853579.html
=========================================

fun (adj):
providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining; "an amusing speaker"; "a diverting story"; "a fun thing to do" [syn: amusing, amusive, diverting, fun(a)] n 1: activities that are enjoyable or amusing; "I do it for the fun of it"; "he is fun to have around" [syn: merriment, playfulness] 2: verbal wit (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously); "he became a figure of fun" [syn: play, sport] 3: violent and excited activity; "she asked for money and then the fun began"; "they began to fight like fun" 4: a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement; "her playfulness surprised me"; "he was fun to be with" [syn: playfulness]
Source: WordNet 2.0. (2003) Princeton University.

Usage Note:
The use of fun as an attributive adjective, as in a fun time, a fun place, probably originated in a playful reanalysis of the use of the word in sentences such as It is fun to ski, where fun has the syntactic function of adjectives such as amusing or enjoyable. The usage became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, though there is some evidence to suggest that it has 19th-century antecedents, but it can still raise eyebrows among traditionalists. The day may come when this usage is entirely unremarkable, but writers may want to avoid it in more formal contexts.
Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (Fourth Edition) (2000). Houghton Mifflin Company.
Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fun

Main Entry: fun(3)
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): sometimes funner sometimes funnest
1: providing entertainment, amusement, or enjoyment <a fun party> <a fun person to be with>
2: full of fun <a fun night> <have a fun time>
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (7 entries found for fun)
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

Konundrum · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Boston

Don't even TRY to tell me English is spoken properly by the majority of Brits. Ever speak to a person from Newcastle (well, Geordies in particular)? Ever speak to a scouser from Liverpool? I was 6 before I even knew that "H" was not silent at the beginning of a word. My grandfather used to yell at me to "Get in the 'ouse..it's time fer a cuppa"
The truth is the vernacular of ANY region in the world differs from every other...and none of them are 100% "proper". Would I go to Mexico to learn Spanish? If I was going to do business in Mexico, of course I would. Would I go to Brazil to learn Portuguese? If I wanted to party down at Carnivale..absolutely.

2 out of 3 Americans illiterate? 47% can't hold a job? These don't even make sense.

Tiberious aka Sparkles · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: I'm one cool cat!

I don't care whether Korean students can say such idioms as "my mother has a green thumb," but they sure as hell need to learn the more common idioms, and phrasal verbs such as "pick up/put down/listen to etc."

Instead we get "I go department store," or "OK, test finish; pencil is down."

Prepositions are the hardest part, I know; let's all band together and solve this dilemma. So's I can sleep at night.

Sparkles*_*

matthewwoodford · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Location, location, location.

When most Koreans have trouble understanding the difference between 'What is he like?' and 'What does he like?', I think we can agree that the finer points of this perennial politically motivated discussion based on mostly half-baked linguistic theories and 'evidence' are way above their heads.

If ever Koreans get to truly advanced level perhaps they'll be in a position to explain our linguistic differences to us and judge objectively which form of English is the best.

In the meantime I'm happy to be able to understand just about any form of English, even Scottish English. It shouldn't really be about rivalry between American and 'British' English, tho', but American and 'Commonwealth' English.