Konglish Lesson: Z=J

Konglish. n. Words or letters written in the English alphabet, but pronounced in an thoroughly Korean way. ex. Z=J, so Zoo=Jew. As in "The Central Park Jew" or "Petting Jew." After explaining the difference, many Korean students will add "s," making "Jews." I had to firmly tell them that animals don't live in a Jew, and you can't drink Jews. They were somewhat confused.

New glasses?

My glasses' lenses were scratched, so I went into a shop to look at new ones. I asked the man how much it would be to replace the lenses, and after a few minutes of checking, he said, "Five minutes." He gave me a discount, so replacing both lenses cost 20,000 won, or about $18. There are some things about Korea that I will miss...

ZERO?

Korean children have difficulties when pronouncing some English letters. "Z" sounds like a hard "J". "R" sounds like "L". I noticed today that when my youngest kids were saying their phone numbers in English, the word "ZERO" sounded much more like "JELLO"...and then I was hungry.

Valentine's Day Snow

When I went to sleep the night before, no hint of snow. When I went to work, 6 inches. More all day. Day after, melting. Go figure.