The 1st had me shaking my head a bit. The commenter asked why I stay in Korea if I dislike it so much. The only reply I can think of is a question. How can someone who claims to have read both my blogs not know that I left Korea almost a year and a half ago? If he meant why did I stay 10 years, that would reply a post of it's own.
The 2nd question raised was about some of the words I have used on my blog when talking about Koreans. Two were mentioned specifically; mook and ricetard.
It still surprises me a bit that people don't know the word mook. It has appeared in many TV shows and movies. Just about anything Mafia related has the word show up in it. You can't have watched The Sopranos without having heard it being used. It has even been used on the Simpsons. While it is an older term, more popular in the old pulp fiction novels and gangster movies, it isn't THAT rare to hear it used today.
Mook isn't just used to refer to Koreans. I use it to refer to idiots of any nationality. Once again, if someone read my blogs they should know that.
Of course you have 'tards like John who implied I was using it as a play on the word gook. Mind you that was him either being deliberately dense to imply racism on my part or too lazy to use a dictionary and just showing his own ignorance. But I digress.
Ricetard, well, yeah, regardless of how it was meant it was kind of racist. (Hmm, I went back and reread this post before posting it and even saying "kind of racist" seems like a cop out. It was racist.) Which is why I stopped using it.
It didn't seem racist to me at the time. Which is a reason not an excuse. It seemed like a funny play on words (especially after a Korean company released a confectionary called a Rice Tard), and Koreans aren't a race. Mind you that kind of reasoning is just a cop out. It is a way of trying to excuse something you either know or think could be bad behaviour. In this case my own behaviour. I can see how it can be construed as being a racist comment. So rather than using the term any more, or being stupid enough to actually try and defend the indefensible and continue using it, I stopped and just went with the generic fucktard and non-racist variants of it (Bustard, Youtard, etc.).
We've explained the entomology of mook enough times. A person who can't figure it out for themselves is being deliberately obtuse.
ReplyDeleteFucking mooks.
I use ricetard as well...not just for Koreans though...and for me it's purely because of those little Ricetard cakes. They crack me up.
ReplyDeleteI use all of the tards....happily. Only a fucktard would question that!
Stig: There is that. :)
ReplyDeleteBurndog: The Ricetard cakes ... they just make it so easy to poke fun at the stupidity of an industry using a foreign language without properly proof reading what they are saying. Like "Hyorish". They still make me laugh too.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why ricetard would be offensive on a racial basis to some though. I do wonder if those thus offended have actually contacted Lotte to point out their stupidity and the racist meaning of the name?
I'm gonna keep this short because I never actually manage to post comments on Blogger. Blogger hates me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I used to use ricetard a lot. It didn't start out racist, but I dropped it because it started to move that way. My girlfriend invented it after seeing the product in EMart that's actually, honestly called "Ricetard". She said, "Haha! That's ricetard..." And it was born.
This is an honest question so don't take it personally. What are you still doing in Korea? It is pretty clear to me that Korea is not your cup of tea. You are not even married/engaged to a local so there would be no need for you to stay in Korea reluctantly. A lot of your negative points/observations are valid. Nobody in North America would put up with bs that you are dealing with on daily basis in Korea. You are in your 30s so you obviously know what you like and dislike. You have lived in Korea for nearly a decade. It puzzles me to see an expat in a foreign country that he despises so much. What gives?
ReplyDeleteIgnore my previous post. I see where you are coming from. I just have one more question to ask. Why did you stick around in Korea for nearly a decade? If I were you I surely would not have stick around that long to deal with that amount of bs and non-sense. I would have died from a stress related heart attack or stroke a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteNo worries Audience. If I jumped on you for it I would have to smack myself upside the head with a 2X4. And experience has taught me that just hurts too much ;)
ReplyDeleteShort answer. I loved the job. My last 3.5 years I had a great boss and co-workers (save for 1 foreigner from Canada). There were things that I didn't like about living in Korea (many I vented about here) and there were things I liked (and probably didn't talk enough about on here).
I know TOO many people who hate their jobs and lives, regardless of where they live. I loved my job and had a love-hate relationship with my life. Once I learned some of the BS and how to avoid it I saved myself from stroking out. Venting helped. I also learned how to let things (not everything ;) ) go.
If I had gone to SoKo 20 years ago I probably would have ended up killing someone or stroking out. I learned a lot before I went and living there taught me a lot. As much as I can complain about Korea (warranted or not and I am not stupid enough to think some of it is unwarranted) overall life there was good to me. Maybe 51/49 but still good to me.
Thanks for your explanation and response. I can see why certain expats can see only negative aspects of Korea. (e.g getting cheated on pay/contract + daily bs & hassle = a person about to pull Columbine/Va Tech)I hope you found a job you like in Canada. I hear that the economy is a bit better than the US. Things are not too great here in Western New York. My boss has been messing around with my pay so I'm about to leave my current job. The competition for the next job will be a stiff one.
ReplyDeletep.s
You guys can take back Tim Hortons. They are everywhere. Dunkin Donuts is 1000 time better. Lol.
Venting helps people survive. Sometimes blogs are the main way people have to vent. Even those who diss Tim Horton's. ;)
ReplyDeleteI write a LOT of things I never post, e-mail, or even talk about. For me it is like a catharsis. Putting it down in words gets it off my chest.
Strangely enough I actually like my new job. It is interesting and has room for advancement. I will always miss teaching, that was the 2nd most fulfilling job I ever had. I am enjoying the new job.
The only reason I thought "mook" was racist in this blog post was because I've never seen the spelling for the word. Sitting next to a word like "ricetard", I figured you just took "moron" and "gook" and put them together. . .which actually seems kind of creative. Totally racist but creative. XD Then you started talking about the mafia and I was like "wait! The insult from the Lion King?" lol! They used it in a freakin kid's cartoon. Any American born after 1984(my birth year) should know that. Timon said it all the time. They even made a tv show starring him and the pig. It was his trade mark. XD
ReplyDelete