Korean Job Discussion Forums

[VanIslander]

Har !

[The evil penguin]

Sure every culture uses sarcasm to some degree but it does seem that the ability of koreans to detect it in ther english language is very diminished. Even those whose english ability is quite good. Anybody else faced with the regular task of writing lengthy student evaluations?. Even for the baby classes...

Use for example one student named "Joe". 11 years old. Thick as the "Kim" section in the korean white pages and blessed with the charisma of sea-sick tree sloth. Any questions as complex as "How are you Joe?" get answered with a baleful expression and a moo-like "Huh?".

Not being allowed to say anything negative about our students, and being in a particularly sarcastic mood, my evaluation sheet was handed in with somehting on the lines of "Joes ability to discuss in depth the general slide of Shakespere's Hamlet into depravity, whilst also articulately debating the role of english in modern day korean society, has, in conjucntion with his improving hand (finger) to nose co-ordination skills, enabled him to rise to the ranking position of the 10th best student in a class of 8."

The korean co-teacher dutifully checked over my comments and enquired about the shakespere part.

When told that i often discuss with the students the works of old Bill in between instructing them to to remove their pencils from their noses and informing 'em that the word chicken is not spelt with a "w", the korean teacher blankly nodded and marked off the evaluation sheet as being ready to hand to the parents...

[Veronica]

[tomato]

In my last message, I listed situations which we would call "sarcasm."

I just thought of another situation and added it to the list.

Interested parties, see my message on page 2.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[Bo Peabody]

[cionanian-cro]

IS sarcasm truly universal? DOES it exist in all cultures and languages?

People here seem to be saying it does, or should. It seems like an unfounded assumption to me.

[Bo Peabody]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[cionanian-cro]

[red dog]

Sorry to get off topic here, but did any of you know that both "Eskimo" and "Bushmen" appear on a database of racial slurs? I won't post a link to the site because the content is highly offensive, but I found it through a Google search.

[baldrick]

I LOVE sarcasm. Honestly, its great. Lets see this again :


There is nothing more uncomfortable than a winning sarcastic quip falling by the wayside. At home in the pub, the way you cheaply slagged off your mate would have bought the house down, in Korea it would be met with a ball grinding silence and glares. Instead of feeling like a guy who is amusing and receiving backslaps from fellow ****takers, some people choose to avoid you altogether. I love the article and diagram which explains that its the faliure to understand the social situation which precludes this.

[cionanian-cro]

I knew (but forgot) that "Eskimo" was inaccurate, and that they prefer the name Inuit. I confess ignorance as to what the "Bushmen" call themselves, but yeah, it would make sense that that's not their true name. (Wapiti?)

Didn't know either term was a slur. I apologize if I offended anyone.

[red dog]

Well, Bushmen was on the list, but I don't think it qualifies as a real racial slur as the site says it refers to Americans -- presumably Americans of all ethnic groups -- since they elected George Bush. Some of the content is extremely offensive, as I said, but some is relatively mild.

[cionanian-cro]

Well, that's rather silly. I have never, ever heard of the Americans referred to as "the Bushmen." Altho I'm sure someone, somewhere, has said it.