One of the irritating trends of Konglish¹ is to import a “cultured” word [one of those words Americans often feel compelled to explain to us fuhreenahs, occulting the possibility that those Latin- and Greek-originating words may be quite common in our own languages; more on that in a bit] and use it with the careless lack of discrimation more often associated with Agent Orange and the Bomb. I really, really wish they’d draw the line at paõ and burger.

So… Today’s rant is about 신드롬, aka syndrome:

1. A group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease, psychological disorder, or other abnormal condition.
2. 1. A complex of symptoms indicating the existence of an undesirable condition or quality.
   2. A distinctive or characteristic pattern of behavior: the syndrome of conspicuous consumption in wealthy suburbs.

Sounds like syndrome is something you don’t want associated with you, you family and your friends. Right? Let’s compare this definition with the following usage [which, if I may note, is the “agreed” usage in Konglish]:

2006 독일 월드컵 아시아 지역 최종예선에서 2골을 터트리며 한국 축구의 6회 연속 월드컵 본선행을 이끈 이영표(28.PSV 아인트호벤)가 ‘신드롬’을 불러일으키고 있는 박지성(24.PSV 아인트호벤)과 박주영(20.FC 서울)에 대해 찬사를 아끼지 않았다.

Lee Young-Pyo [27, PSV Eindhoven], who locked Korea’s qualification to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, is not skimping on praise for Park Ji-Sung [23, PSV] and Park Ju-Young [19, Seoul FC], who are starting [are at the origin of] a ’syndrome’.
이영표, ‘박지성, 맨U 주전도 문제 없다’”
Note the 맨U for Manchester United. I have a feeling this is going to stick…

Now, what kind of a syndrome do we have here? Of a disease, psychological disorder, or other abnormal condition, beyond the usual jackassery, ignorance and adherence to the ppalli-ppalli, taech’ung-taech’ung philosophy of [supposedly] modern Korea? Sure, not everybody has had the time and/or opportunity to get a good command of English, hard as they try. And, sure, so-called journalists in Korea are more than often the last scrapings of an already well-scraped barrel, barely articulate thugs with a pen, bad breath and no tie, guys who couldn’t dream of making it to Samsung. Some of them will also be the fiercest defenders of all things Korean, from 1970s nail-clippers to today’s DRAM to the timeless 한글 and Korean language. Reet-o. If the language is so good, and if Yankees are that bad, why’n't you purify that language of yours, and stop using carelessly words like 신드롬, 웰빙 [well bing, c’mon, at least make it 웰 비 잉, three syllables, shmucks] and the like. Stand proud to your language, and stop bastardizing with the same gusto Mongol warriors did with your ancestors…

small talk like, “after 6 hits while locked in my room meditating, I basically blew a fuse,” is not exactly the combination to the master vault at U.S. Pussy Savings & Loan.
HOW TO AVOID THE EXHAUSTING PLANNING AND PREPARATION THAT GOES INTO MAKING A SECOND DATE.

via Dooce who chose another tidbit from that page, not bad either…

Found this snippet in Korean Dutch treats, about Lee Young-Pyo [이영표] and Park Ji-Sung [박지성], two Korean football players who followed Guus Hiddink at PSV Eindhoven:

At that time Mark van Bommel said in an interview: “They are here, but that is all you can say about them. They have not made any progress. When you say something about some mistake they make, they smile and then continue making them. That is quite frustrating.”

Ugh. Any business executive who’s done time in Korea will relate to that. In this case, I think language was only part of the problem [they had an interpreter]. Especially in the case of Park, who’s well known to be a 싸가지-less [obnoxious and snobbish] little bastard. We know better, quack quack… I had a guy like that. Would always say yes, yes, and as soon as I turned around, he’d make the same mistakes [from drinking with our competitors and spilling the beans to making the same useless sales pitch and promise things that he knew I would say no too, hoping that the de facto situation would force my hand]… Well, apparently Lee and Park did better than him after their translator left. Park will possibly hired by Manchester United. Wish him luck there, as his Kangnam rich boy attitude might get him into more troubles he can handle.

Where are Vinnie Jones and Cantona when we need ‘em?

This is great! I had seen it some time ago, maybe a coupla years, and it’s hilarious. Well, to me at least…
accents of the world

One of the Aafrikans men sounds so much like my former RSA colleague, for a moment I thought it was him. The Yiddish man is just great. His r’s especially don’t lie The Dutch speaker from Amsterdam is very typical, the one from Nijmegen less so, as his English is very poor, apparently…

… ‘cuz CitiBank will help you lose your monies anyway…

The retail finance division of Citigroup has admitted that a backup tape containing personal information on almost 4 million customers has gone missing. […] The tape contains Social Security numbers and transaction histories on both open and closed accounts at the bank’s lending branches.
[…]
The company admitted that it doesn’t use encryption on its electronic transmissions, nor explained why it took so long to notify the public.
Citibank admits: we’ve lost the backup tape

Oops…