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Korean Sociological Image #54: Sex & Drugs

(Source: Focus {Busan ed.}, 08.12.2010, p. 17)

As we all know, if you’re a real man, then you couldn’t care less about what painkiller to use.

But to be precise, the ad actually says dansoonhan men (단순한남자). Which usually translates as “simple” in English, but probably best would be “straightforward” in this case.

Forgive me though, for still considering myself just as smart (dokdokhae;똑똑해) as the woman in the ad. After all, I too wear glasses sometimes.

How am I supposed to choose a painkiller then? Or – heaven forbid – straightforward women for that matter?

Alas, the ad gives no clue:

Methods of choosing a painkiller – Men vs. Women

Straightforward men [choose] without thinking.

As for smart women…because it’s a liquid, its effects are fast. This is EZN6.

Liquid Form…[They need to] think about if it will decrease the burden on the stomach or not

[They need to] carefully think about if it contains caffeine or not

And at the very least, it certainly doesn’t discourage the notion that looking after one’s body is really something only women should do. Unlike most products that are marketed very differently to each sex though (see here, here, here, here, and here for more Korean examples), the irony here is that there’s now a wealth of evidence to suggest that painkillers that work on one sex can be ineffective or even increase pain on the other. In the near-future, there may well be completely different painkillers developed for men and women.

And when they are, then yes: I’d wager that they’re going to be pink and blue too.

You’re in for a world of hurt Neo! (Source)

When that day arrives though, do you think Daewoong Pharmaceutical (대웅제약) will simply come up with 2 versions of the ad, each only featuring one sex? Or will ads for men continue to emphasize simplicity, but those for women stressing how they’d have even more things to consider?

My money’s on the latter…!

(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Images series, see here)

Filed under: Gender Roles, Gender Socialization, Korean Advertisements, Korean Sociological Images Tagged: Daewoong Pharmaceutical, EZN6, 대웅제약, 이지엔6, 진통제, Painkillers

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Death & Life

It is something difficult among adults to even speak of, as we can expect with children. However it is a part of life, and I think most of us could really take to embracing it. We will have an overall higher appreciation for the daily existence of things and people, opposed to only filling ourselves with regret.

{ I love the way Dallas Clayton has put it.}

SIMPLE

When talking to a young child about death
take comfort in the fact
that to him
much of what it means to die
involves laying down with your eyes closed
and waiting for someone magical
to come along and kiss you.

In personal experience, I have found there are many stages of emotions in the grieving process. The most important focus is the contribution the person or animal made to you, how you can carry that with you, and how you can remind yourself of all those beautiful moments with them. That is all we can do. Life is temporary, and we have to accept that.

Learning English Through Entertainment #1: "You can't handle the truth."

The Greatest American Export Isn't the iPhone, It Is Entertainment
Entertainment is the great American export. TV, movies, music, you name it, and there is zero doubt that the U.S. is the undisputed king of the hill (sorry, Hallyu). Other countries are making strides or have made historical importance (like the U.K. in music).
Pop culture starts and ends in America, and as a result, one excellent way of knowing how language is used, what the implications of the language is, or if you want to relate to others speaking English, then knowing scenes where a famous phrase is coined, and what movie, and the circumstance, is very helpful.

Learning English Through Cinema #1: "You can't handle the truth."
This is from A Few Good Men, a not particularly good movie. However, this scene from You Tube is unforgettable because of the line "You can't handle the truth." The meaning of the phrase is: "sometimes, the truth is ugly, so it's better to not know, and just accept the good results instead of asking questions."

You know how to tell that a line from a movie is well-known? It gets repeated on TV shows, and in this case, the most popular sitcom of all-time, Seinfeld.

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www.seoulgyopoguide.com www.twitter.com/thelostseoul

영어 Slang of the Day #13: "All bets are off." Wait, when did we bet?

영어 Slang of the Day #13: "All bets are off." Wait, when did we bet?

All bets are off is used when something dramatically changes a situation, which makes one person/party re-evaluate the situation entirely. Obviously, the background here is that when you make a bet, the relevant facts are known. However, when something so dramatic occurs, then the bet is no longer fair, then you want to cancel the bet. At that time, you could use the phrase "all bets are off."

Examples
(o) I thought that I was going to marry Chul-Ho, but then I saw him kissing another girl! All bets are off.
(o) All bets are off: we need to re-evaluate our entire strategy because popularity of the iPad.

Notes:
Many 영어 Slang of the Day entries are not appropriate for a business/professional setting. However, this is a phrase which will not offend anyone. While too casual for writing in a formal report of any kind (business or academic), it would be perfectly acceptable to use this phrase in a casual setting or when speaking with business colleagues.

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Is Divorce in Korea Finally Socially Acceptable?

(Source)

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, and the very short notice with this one, but in an hour from now (7:45pm Korean time) I’ll briefly be on 101.3 TBS eFM’s evening show, talking about the title topic. For the details, see here, and note that unfortunately you can only listen live on Internet Explorer sorry.

Update - Well, that was a little embarrassing: because of a miscommunication, technical problem, and/or a last minute editorial decision, I didn’t actually get called in the end!

But for anyone still interested in the subject though, then I was going to mention that while on the one hand the stigma surrounding divorce is certainly disappearing over time, with 1 in 4 marriages now involving a divorcee and in particular both the numbers of women remarrying and their rate of increase outstripping those of men, on the other hand the profoundly gendered effects of the recent economic crisis here have left Korean women more financially reliant on their husbands than ever, as explained at #2 here, here, and #15 here.

Meanwhile, see here for more information on both the high rates and the practicalities of getting a divorce in Korea, and here for more on the hoju or family-registry system (호주), which had a huge role in drawing attention to people’s marital status (or parents’ status) and consequently being able to discriminate against them on that basis. Moreover, although that has recently been abolished, one final point I was going to make was that unfortunately that’s just one of many superfluous things corporations take into account in their hiring practices, as demonstrated here, at #8 here, here, here, and here, and so it’s probably going to take a while before Korean business culture catches up with the social reality.

Filed under: Announcements, Korean Demographics, Korean Economy, Korean Families, Korean Feminism, Marriage, TGN in the Media Tagged: Divorce, Hoju, 호주, 이혼

Daily life

We are slowly developing a routine here and feeling more comfortable everyday. We awake in our motel. Our sleep schedule is getting better every night. We usually have some breakfast such as yogurt, bran type cereal, or even ramen(ramyan). The coffee has taken some getting used to as steve and I are coffee snobs. Maxim coffee comes in small tube packets and is 1/4 grounds and 3/4 sugary substance. It is delicious, but gives more of a sugar buzz than anything. Shower comes next and this is not an easy task. Showering here is not a luxury as in the states or elsewhere. A shower sprayer is not attached to the wall. You hold the sprayer and set it down to lather. The whole bathroom is basically the shower as there is no curtain and a drain in the middle of the room. Showering takes some practice in order to not soak the entire room. The most positive aspect is that this type of showering is water/energy saving as I turn off water to lather. Next, I try to find an outfit and grumble as I pull items out of each of my suitcases to put together a whole outfit. Ready to go and out we go to stand across the road from our motel to catch the school shuttle. We get some puzzled stares as people drive past and I sometimes worry that we will cause an accident. The shuttle is about a 15 minute ride as we pick up the most adorable children! The bus driver chatters away to steve in the front seat. He laughs and chatters as steve understands not a word. I sit in the middle and smile and giggle at the "conversation" between the driver and steve. The adorable tot (maybe 4 years old)sitting next to me looks up at me frequently and when I turn to smile at him, he quickly smiles and turns away with embarrassment. We arrive at school. Shoes off and into our slippers! I cannot complain at all about wearing slippers at work : ) currently steve and I are doing private English lessons in the school until we take over for the other foreign teachers. We eat lunch at the school and it is homemade Korean food. The food is served in the middle of the table and everyone shares out of the same dishes. It is quite nice and contributes to a feeling of togetherness/family. Kimchi is always served and I do like it! There is always rice and many vegetables. Sometimes there are fish cakes, vegetable fritters, and other things I do not know. I feel very healthy and satisfied after these meals. At the end of the day (between 3-4) we walk home and have different adventures daily! Some days we put minutes on our cell phone and other days we go grocery shopping or simply walk around. It doesn't matter how simple the task may seem, it is always a great adventure as we attempt to communicate, explore, understand, and build a life here.

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teaching english in korea.
blogging here: www.teachingintherok.blogspot.com

Pictured are Diana, Lora, Mimi and Sara. They are part of my...

Pictured are Diana, Lora, Mimi and Sara. They are part of my smartest class. These girls are really clever and quite witty.

Diana is the sassy one that is always dishing it out. Lora is boy crazy and the boys are crazy for her, as well; she has a new boyfriend every other week. Mimi is the smartest and much wiser than the other girls. Sara is definitely the quintessential popular girl that doesn’t think too much about her actions and is actually pretty rude to the other girls.

These girls have gotten me in trouble more than once. I guess I can only blame myself for speaking Korean in class, but you would think you could trust some students not to tell the other teachers. They’re my easiest class, because their English is so advanced that we could talk easily for hours. They’re also my hardiest class, because they’re such little bitches. Happy Wednesday.

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About

Hi, I'm Stacy. I'm from Portland, Oregon, USA, and am currently living in Busan, South Korea. Check me out on: Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Lastfm, and Flickr.

영어 Hint of the Day #30: "The Jury is Still Out." What Jury?

The jury is still out is a very useful way of saying that no conclusion has yet been reached.
Perhaps the most direct translation would be "아직또 몰릅니다." The key point is the word "yet." It implies that the final answer has not yet been found and the outcome is uncertain.

In legal systems, trials are often determined by a jury. When deliberating which side has won, the jury generally leaves the courtroom to debate the issues outside a courtroom. They usually do not return until a final verdict is reached. The saying "the jury is still out" originates from that situation.

Examples.
(o) Is Lee Myung-bak a great president? Well, the jury is still out on that.
(o) The jury is still out on whether or not she will fully realize her potential.

Comments are appreciated.
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Review: i Tour Seoul 2 (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

It’s rather rare to see a second version of an app with such marked improvements. After reviewing the first version of the i Tour Seoul / iTourSeoul app, I actually uninstalled it and thought nothing more of it. As the proud owner of a 1st gen iPod Touch and an Android smartphone, I wasn’t interested in an app that required an internet connection to read text.

Fast forward to last month, when visitseoul.net announced a new version of the app. I downloaded it shortly after the update in early January, but have been busy with traveling and other writing projects that this fell by the wayside.

OK, the bad news first: there are still some limiting factors if you’re running an iPod Touch like me) or have expensive data roaming charges. The app will inform you how to turn the GPS on, but the message above pops up far too often. The program should be able to tell what sort of hardware it’s on, and adjust the messages accordingly.

The good news: there’s much more data available as part of the app, and if the program is going to connect to the internet, it’ll show a warning. Perhaps they got some complaints about people getting dinged for their overseas data usage. It’s a nice touch.

Start browsing by tapping ‘Main’ at bottom. The top 20 usual suspects are rounded up in much the usual way – destinations, shows, traditional Korean food and drinks – and are thrown together in an almost mish-mash arrangement.

Text, photo, and some audio explaining the area are nothing fancy. The audio bites measure in at a minute long on average, and sound like they were recorded by tourists on-the-spot.

Although the app isn’t very complex, the ‘Service Guide’ at bottom takes the time to explain the different features. These are mainly the little touches – red and blue skins (#3), language options (#4) are nice highlights.

Tap the ‘Categories’ tab at top to see plenty of information – all stored on your iDevice. There’s plenty of excellent reading here – easily enough to make your flight to Korea a little more educational. The ‘Itineraries’ button offers some excellent options if you’re coming to Korea, although only two are included on the app. One sour note: the subway map is significantly out of date – hopefully a future software update will include the extension to line 3, the AREX train connecting Incheon airport to Seoul station, and the entire Gyeongchun line.

A feature with plenty of potential – select the main category on the left, then a sub-category on the right. If relevant, a ‘grade’ of 1-5 stars also becomes available. The results are still a bit disappointing, especially in the restaurant category. With over 10,000 restaurants in the Seoul area alone, there should be more results here.

With an internet connection, the map and public transportation button (and the ‘call’ button, if you’re using an iPhone) work quite nicely.

In fact, the public transportation option works better than expected. The trick remains finding the bus stop (and determining the right direction), but this is a great step in the right direction. No more trying to interpret bus maps only in Korean.

In the interest of being backwards-compatible (?), the program has an option to use the older version of software. It’s unclear what benefit is offered with version 1.0 – stick with the newer version.

This is a solid offering from visitseoul.net – with enough information built-into the app, it serves the tourists and those newer to Korea quite nicely. There’s nothing particularly new or groundbreaking here, but there’s nothing embarrassing either.

Usefulness / helpfulness: (is it useful / helpful?)

Return on investment: (is it worth the time / money to figure out?)

Intuitiveness / Ease of use (can you pick it up and use it, or do you have to tinker with it?)

Looks / Design (while not every app is elegant, do you want to stare at it for an hour?)

Overall: (keep it or delete it?)

i Tour Seoul 2 is available for free for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-tour-seoul-2/id405436072?mt=8.

This post was originally published on my blog ,Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

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Oneweirdglobe.com