Want to buy some of The North Face gear in South Korea but cannot afford the prices. Don’t worry. There’s always The Noble Face. What’s in a name as long as the logo is correct, right?
Archive | English Usage
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Lost in Translation — at the gym
Sometimes, literal translations get lost in translation: Although “please take off water on your body” sounds a bit strange, I have a pretty good idea it was supposed to mean, please dry your body after getting out of the water. I’m not so sure about Number four, though: After awhile you get used to this [...]
Face-Off
I wasn’t sure about this advertisement I saw in the Seoul subway the other week; not really sure what a slice of bread and an American football had to do with a person’s face. Then of course, there was the blatant misuse of English. From what I was able to translate, this is an advertisement [...]
Do you want anything?
I guess if you need something, you just have to see if there is anything available in a vending machine. A vending machine inside my gym. This reminds me of the “generic” brand names back in the early 80s. White boxes, cans, bottles, with names of the products written in black letters: Beer, Corn Chips, [...]
Dick Stick
That’s right. Dick Sticks. Taste & Simple Sesame Stick You’d think, if you were going to choose an English name for a sesame stick snack, you might want to think twice about calling the snack Dick Stick. What’s even more bizarre is that this is sold at Home Plus this large hyper market in Korea [...]
But-room
On the road from Vientiane to Thakek. Now, there are a couple things going on with this photo. First, “please” is misspelled; okay, that’s a little obvious. Now what got me chuckling is the next part, “butroom.” Yes, it should be “bathroom” but, (no pun intended) butroom makes sense. After all, it is a room [...]
Ten “most hated” English expressions
I came across this list via the Chosun Ilbo via the Telegraph about the ten most hated English expressions. I agree with most of the ones on the list: Oxford University has chosen the 10 most-hated sloppy idiomatic expressions. The Telegraph reports the most hated phrase was “at the end of the day,” while “fairly [...]
Mistaken Identity
Today, one of my students, Han-na mistakenly called me Mr. Mailer. Whether or not it was a Freudian slip of the tongue, a simple English pronunciation mistake, or that Han-na’s English proficiency is much better than she has led me to believe in class, I will try and live up to the mistaken identity. On [...]
How not to strike up an English conversation with a foreigner
There’s been this Korean man eyeballing me at my gym for the past few weeks. Well, not so much eyeballing than staring. I kind of figured he was either xenophobic or maybe working up the courage to try out whatever English he had acquired. Yesterday, he finally had the courage. Now folks, if you are [...]
Head over Hills
Head over Hills You know, that Tears for Fears song right? [pausing, for the punch line and the explanation] Now before you rush to correct my spelling, that is what I saw written on a T-shirt some college student was wearing. I was walking behind him and wondered, “what the heck was this weird English [...]
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