Thursday, January 31, 2013

100 Things I Love About Korea # 50: Replay - Random Funny English

This is a repost from November 12, 2007.

In Korea English is vogue. (I think it's kind of like the trend in the USA a few years back with Chinese characters.)
English words or phrases adorn clothes, hats, books, bags, pencils, storefronts, menus, and just about everything else. Sometimes the English words make sense and seem appropriate. Sometimes they seem completely random and nonsensical. Sometimes a notebook or a shirt will have a few lines from a random English poem, song, or story.
Today, as my students were writing in preparation for a speaking assignment, I stopped to read the cover of a student's notebook. It was so randomly hilarious that I wrote it down. It also expressed a cultural idiosyncrasy for younger Koreans. They have this thing for poo. (Someone gave Emma a very popular Korean book in which the main character is a pile of dog poo trying to find its identity in the world. No kidding! The dog poo eventually fertilizes a dandelion and feels self-actualized as part of the circle of life.)
Anyway, without further adieu, here's the story I read today on the cover a notebook, complete will graphic illustrations:
One day a little tortoise met a hedgehog.
The little tortoise said, "Hello Mr. Nice to meet you."
"Hi little fellow. Where are you going?" Mr. Hedgehog said.
"I'm on my way to poo-poo. It's a sort of Emergency situation."


Profound.

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