I saw this somewhere online, and decided to share it.
[Daily log: walking, 5 km]
Caveat: 개똥도 약에 쓰려면 없다
개똥도 약에 쓰려면 없다
dog-shit-TOO medicine-AS use-intend-when there-isn’t
Even when you want to use dogshit as medicine, there isn’t any.
This is basically a proverb that means that no matter how minor your need might be, or how much you are willing to yield in the quality of what’s needed, in the moment of need, the needed thing is missing. It’s kind of like a version of Murphy’s Law: “If it can go wrong, it will.”
Caveat: Unverifiable
“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity.” – Abraham Lincoln.
Haha. Huh.
What I’m listening to right now.
Seeed, “Wonderful Life.” I came for the video. Stayed for the song.
[Daily log: walking, 3 km]
Caveat: mensaje de un pueblo libre y soberano
Uno de los conjuntos musicales mexicanos que más me gusta es Molotov – a pesar de su preocupación por temática de drogas y violencia, también muestran una clara inteligencia política y cultural. Surfeaba teh youtubes pa encontrar algunos buenos tracks. Éste siguiente me tiene una resonancia – tan lírica como políticamente, ofrece mucho.
Lo que estoy escuchando ahora mismo.
Molotov, “Gimme Tha Power.”
Cuando era chico quería ser como superman
pero ahora ya quiero ser un diputado del PAN
o del PRI o del PRD
o cualquier cosa que tenga un poco de poder
quiero convertirme en músico político
y construirle un piso al periferico
quiero acabar con el tráfico
tengo que entrar en la historia de México
y luego miro al pecero que va medio pedo
jugando carreras con los pasajeros
pero el tiene que pasar primero
sin luces sin frenos junto al patrullero
aunque no sepa leer
no sepa hablar
el es el que te brinda la seguridad
asi lo tienes que respetar
porque el representa nuestra autoridad(Coro)
So you think you goona hit me
but now We gonna hit you backTe metera en el bolsillo una sustancia ilegal
y te va a consignar al poder judicial
y ahí seguro que te ira muy mal
porque te haran cocowash con agua mineral
porque en ti creiamos todos los mexicanos
te dimos trabajo pagado y honrado
te dimos un arma para cuidarnos
y el arma que usas la usas para robarnos
y aunque quieras quejarte con papa gobierno
les pides ayuda y te mandan al infierno
porque tendremos que tirar buen pedo
solo te van a dar atole con el dedo
y en la fila del departamento de quejas
toparas con un mar de secretarias pendejas
el siguiente en la fila y asi te la pelas
pero algunos al final nunca se traspapela(Coro)
México solidario acabo a los tiranos
sin la necesidad de ensuciarnos las manos
no podemos pedir resultado inmediato
de un legado de 75 años
todos unidos pedimos un cambio
piedra sobre piedra y peldaño a peldaño
solo poder expresarnos es palaba de honor
de nuestro jefe de estado
te arrepentiras de todo lo que trabajas
se te ira la mitad de todo lo que tu ganas
manteniendo los puestos de copias piratas
que no pagan impuestos pero son más baratas
veo una fuerte campaña de tele y de radio
promoviendo la union entre los ciudadanos
mensaje de un pueblo libre y soberano
IGUAL QUE TU MOLOTOV TAMBIEN ES MEXICANO!!!!!(Nos quieren pegar pegar)
So you think you gonna hit me
(y nos la van a pagar)
but now we gonna hit you back
Caveat: On Marriage
I suppose it’s time for me to weigh in on the gay marriage debate. Actually, I’ve done so before, but the events in North Carolina and with respect to Obama’s recent speech, I felt like bringing it up again, since it’s a matter of some concern among many of my friends and acquaintances.
In this matter, my libertarian instincts predominate, and my view has remained essentially unchanged over a period of almost 30 years, from back when I first was confronted with the idea of “gay marriage.” I knew people, even when I was in elementary school – friends of my parents – who were essentially committed gay couples, living together. And at that time, what struck me as ridiculous was not that the state or that society should have some say in banning or disallowing or failing to recognize these types of relationships. No… what struck me then – and still strikes me now – as utterly bizarre is that the state should play some role in defining ANYONE’s relationship with another person.
The fact is that I don’t believe in gay marriage. But not for the typical reason. You see… I don’t believe in straight marriage, either. I believe that the state should stay out of EVERYONE’s bedroom, equally.
If people want things like survivorship rights, or co-parenting rights, or adoption, or whatever… these are legal constructs or contracts like any other (and not unlike business partnerships, for example), and they should be drafted and viewed as such, and not automatically conferred on people who take the time to go through some ritual or another, be it in a church or in a temple or in front of a judge.
I confess that I, myself, was once married. But Michelle and I agreed at the time that it was something we were doing for the contractual and legal benefits, and we both strongly resented the idea of having to get a state imprimatur on our essentially private relationship.
Rather than advocating for gay marriage, I would rather advocate for the abolition of the state-based recognition of ANY marriage. That’s not to say the state would ban marriage, but rather that it should become “blind” to whether two people are in a relationship or not, to the maximum extent legally practicable. When it comes to things like the legal guardianship of children, there are many laws in place that have nothing to do with marriage that ensure parental rights and obligations, for example – were this not the case, the extremely high levels of out-of-wedlock (and what an abhorent term that is!) births in our society wouldn’t be functionally possible. If two people want to get married, that’s a decision that lies between those two people and their families and their communities. If, on the other hand, they want to file jointly with the IRS, that’s something they can work out with the IRS as a sort of legal partnership unconnected to what they do in bed or church, without recourse to a legal concept like “marriage.”
The blogger IOZ, as is often the case, makes a brilliant case for such a view as I’m sympathetic to, by pointing out the inherent ridiculousness of public documents and figures (such as North Carolina’s constitution or President Obama) staking out important positions on either side of the “gay marriage” issue. He does this quite cleverly, by creating an extreme, satirical example of the same type of thinking:
“I know marriage is supposed to be some, like, basic physical property of the human universe, paired protons and neutrons or quark spin or some shit or whatever, but really, uh, like, what if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania banned slightly awkward social acquaintances in which you do have each other’s cell numbers but you don’t really feel comfortable calling even though you need to borrow his pick-up and you’re pretty sure he’d be cool with it but maybe you’ll just text him instead. Then the 3rd Circuit overturns the law on twenty-first amendment grounds. The President of the United States says that although he would probably have sent a private Facebook message, his views on the issue are evolving.” – IOZ
Caveat: Raw Rats
Wow, sagas!
Solo’s deed, civic deed.
Eye dewed, a doom-mood.
A pop …
Sis sees redder rotator.
Radar eye sees racecar X.
Dad did rotor gig.
Level sees reviver!
Solo’s deified!
Solo’s reviver sees level …
Gig rotor did dad!
X, racecar, sees eye.
Radar rotator, redder, sees sis …
Pop a doom-mood!
A dewed eye.
Deed, civic deed.
Solo’s sagas: wow.
"The text is a palindrome by Nick Montfort that briefly retells 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,' making Han Solo central. The palindrome is a revised version of the one Montfort wrote in 75 minutes for the First World Palindrome Championship, held in Brooklyn on March 16, 2012." – Posted at a site called Machine Libertine.
I love palindromes.
What I'm listening to right now.
Japanese Pop Stars, "Let go." The video is pretty cool. I had some tricolor penne with pesto and broccoli for dinner. I'm feeling tired – this new (old) exercise habit I'm trying to re-start is kind of … tiring.
[Daily log: walking, 4 km; running, 4 km]
Caveat: We just call it “Missouri.”
At The Atlantic webiste, I saw a post by Derek Thompson, that is a very, very interesting discussion of fiscal transfers vis-a-vis the EU, the Greek crisis, recalcitrant Germany, etc. It sums it all up very simply and clearly. The key idea, at the end:
When you hear commentators say, "the euro zone must begin to transition toward a fiscal union," what they are saying, in human-speak, is that the Europe needs to be more like the United States, with balanced budget laws for its individual members and seamless fiscal transfers from the rich countries to the poor, to protect the indigent, old, and sick, no matter where they reside.
The Germans call this sort of thing "a permanent bailout." We just call it "Missouri."
Caveat: Not So Difficult
We were talking in one of my classes about their mid-term test scores at the public school, in their various subjects – not just English. Then later, I was asking them about their “dreams” – as in their lifetime ambitions. The following conversation took place (with some minor omissions for coherence).
I asked one student, “What is your dream?”
“I need money. A lot of money,” he answered. This is typical for 8th graders. And Koreans. And Korean 8th graders.
“That’s not so easy,” I reflected. “How will you get a lot of money?”
He shrugged.
“That’s difficult,” a second student offered.
The first student said, brightly, “I got very lowest score in 도덕.” [도덕 (do-deok) is mandatory ethics class, in Korean public schools.] This seemed rather cynical, or else it was a clever joke.
He thought for a minute, and the discussion moved to other students’ dreams. But then the first student interruped. “My dream. I want to be a father.”
The room was quiet for a moment. The second student said, “Oh! That’s not so difficult.”
The girls in the back of the room giggled. I decided to change the subject.
…
I went jogging in the park by the lake tonight, after work, under a rising bloody orange gibbous moon. I love to be in the park at exactly 11 pm, when they shut off the outdoor lights. It’s still plenty light enough to see – the city is all around. And they don’t close the park – people are still around. But it’s suddenly much, much darker. It’s like a sudden chord change in some dramatic music. The feel of it changes.
What I’m listening to right now.
Gus Gus, “Starlovers.” Very weird, kind of groovy song. Creepy video. [UPDATE: the creepy video linkrotted into nothingness, but the audio track is restored via a replaced youtube link.]
An utterly unrelated, random picture from my archive, just for whatever. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, 2007.
[Daily log: walking, 5 km; running, 3 km]
Caveat: Frog, Hen, Cow, Snake
I recently ran across a website that agrees with my theories about the importance of “art” in language teaching. I mean, it’s not a deeply academic site, but it’s nice to see teachers that have the same instinct and approach that I do. Creativity is how to get kids (and even adults) to not just study but to actually learn to use foreign language. Anyway. In that vein, here’s a really good drawing done by an otherwise low-ability and low-motivation fifth-grade student named Ahyeon, based on a story we read about Boe the Frog, who counts feet (as in: “that hen has 2 feet, one, two”; etc.).
Caveat: Redemption From Piracy @ 99¢ a pop
Haha. I did something, today, that I haven’t done in about a year: I paid for music. I was listening to KCRW, and there was a track I liked. Normally, I respond to this by doing a youtube search for a posting of the track, and then I use a little conversion utility to grab an mp3 file of the audio part of the video – no questions asked. This is piracy, of course.
I have rationalized this behavior (or justified it, or something) with the excuse that, since having come to Korea, I have continuously run into problems which can be summed up by this paraphrase: “Sorry, [this music-selling website, e.g. amazon etc.] is not authorized to sell this material in your country.” After a few encounters with this type of barrier, I gave up, and became a pirate. It was too easy, not to.
But today, I couldn’t find this track in the youtubes, and so I clicked the “buy in amazon” link in the KCRW track-list; just for giggles, I went ahead and attempted the transaction, and lo and behold, it went through, despite my nefarious Asian IP address.
Damn! I might have to give up piracy. Amazon wants my money, and my poor citizenship in the capitalist machine just lost its backing logic. Ah, redemption.
What I’m listening to right now.
[So I couldn’t find a youtube of it, right? You can get it for $0.99 on amazon.com]
The Baldwin Brothers, “That’s Right.”
[Daily log: walking, 4 km; running 4 km]
Caveat: All Your Bad Englishes Are Belong to Us
Actually, I LOVE bad Englishes. As a descriptive linguist, I don't feel any need to correct them, when they memify. Rather, I feel a strong temptation to encourage their proliferation – because it's like I want to encourage linguistic diversity and language change. Well, anyway, there was a posting at Language Log about the "All Your Base" meme, and I was thinking about it.
What I'm listening to right now.
All Your Base Are Belong To Us – Youtube fan-techno, or something. Right. 물론!
Relatedly, while surfing the decrepit and latent links of LanguageLogLand, I ran across the most romantic nerd-poem EVER:
roses are #FF0000
violets are #0000FF
all my base
are belong to you
Caveat: 거지도 부지런하면 더운 밥 얻어 먹는다
거지도 부지런하면 더운 밥 얻어 먹는다
beggar-TOO diligence-DOES-IF warm-ADJ rice gets eats
If a beggar is diligent he can get and eat warm rice too.
Even googletranslate believes this has something to do with early birds and worms, so that must be the equivalent proverb. I never liked that proverb – mostly because I don’t feel like eating worms. But I understand the idea. I like the Korean version better – it’s very bootstrappy.
[Daily log: day-of-rest]
Caveat: Un cinco de mayo sobre hielo
Yesterday during Children’s Day, I went ice skating. Really. Among other things.
I met some friends who have a child – which seemed appropriate. We hung out at this street-fair style gathering at a place called 고양어울림누리 (roughly, you might call this Goyang Harmony World – Goyang is the name of my city, and Harmony World is a sort of multi-use municipal cultural center, with theaters, museums, sports centers, etc.).
First we went ice skating – I last went ice skating in the late 1980’s. I didn’t do very well. Neither did many other people. I never fell down, though. Above, here is a picture of me taken by one of my friends from outside the skating rink with a cellphone. Not very good resolution, but I offer this as proof that I actually did this thing, for those who know me well will be skeptical.
After that, we had a kind picnic sitting in some shade among many other families and social groups gathered in open plaza areas. There were many fountains and many children playing in fountains, and except for the wind, it would have been a hot, summery day. The wind kept it pleasant.
We walked around the booths set up for the fair. There were lots of activities for kids.
The son of my friends wanted to make an airplane. We stopped at that booth.
I walked around while the boy was making his airplane. I saw many booths full of crowds making various crafts. And I saw one booth that was almost completely empty – it was a traditional book-making activity. This made me sad. Making books is my number one favorite craft type activity.
We walked to where a minor-league soccer game was going on. There were only a few people in the stands, but players were taking it very seriously. They argued with the refs.
It was definitely springtime.
The airplane was a good investment. The boy played with it for several hours, continuously. Despite the wind, which caused it to follow quite unexpected routes. I like this picture – the plane spun off around behind him, and he’s spinning to try to watch it. The shadow of the plane on the ground looks a little bit like a dragonfly.
Thus I spent my Cinco de Mayo, 2012 – better known locally as Children’s Day.
Caveat: Become Someone Else
"I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning." – Michel Foucault.
What I'm listening to right now.
João Gilberto, "Chega de Saudade." Lyrics:
Vai, minha tristeza
E diz a ela que sem ela não pode ser
Diz lhe numa prece que ela regresse
Porque eu não posso mais sofrer
Chega de saudade, a realidade
É que sem ela não há paz, não há beleza
É só tristeza, e a melancolia
Que não sai de mim, não sai de mim, não sai
Mas se ela voltar, se ela voltar
Que coisa linda, que coisa louca
Pois há menos peixinhos a nadar no mar
Do que os beijinhos que eu darei na sua boca
Dentro dos meus braços os abraços
Hão de ser milhões de abraços apertado assim
Colado assim, calado assim
Abraços e beijinhos e carinhos sem ter fim
Que é pra acabar com esse negócio
De viver longe de mim
Não quero mais esse negócio
De você viver assim
Vamos deixar desse negócio
De você viver sem mim
[Daily Log: walking, 4 km]
Caveat: Yay Kids
Today is that oddly compelling secular Korean holiday known as Children’s Day. There’s a googledoodle dedicated to it:
Caveat: Talent (?)
Today was a very long day. Karma had its talent show for elementary kids. I think it was at least moderately successful. I shot some video but I will have to edit through it see if any of it is of sufficient quality to post.
After work, the Karmites went out to eat. I tried to follow the conversation, but it wasn't always possible. I always recognize who is being talked about, and the general topics, but I still miss too much of the detail. So I just sat quietly and listened, mostly.
I'm feeling pretty good about work. The contract renewal is in progress – I'm staying another year. I don't think there will be any major complications. Anyway.
More later. Tomorrow is a holiday in Korea – it's called Children's Day. I'm going to get out of the house.
[Daily log: walking, 3 km]
Caveat: ¡Se mueren de amor los ramos!
Serenata de Belisa
Por las orillas del río
se está la noche mojando
en los pechos de Lolita
se mueren de amor los ramos.¡Se mueren de amor los ramos!
La noche canta desnuda
sobre los puentes de marzo.
Belisa lava su cuerpo
con agua salobre y nardos.¡Se mueren de amor los ramos!
La noche de anís y plata
relumbra por los tejados.
Playas de arroyos y espejos
anís de tus muslos blancos.¡Se mueren de amor los ramos!
– Federico García Lorca
Caveat: Teacher! My favorite beer is Heineken
I had my first day back with the middle-schoolers after the end of the mid-term test-prep period. Many of them were absent, but a core group of my RN1T cohort of mostly seventh graders was present, and they were definitely entertaining. The highlights:
Jeongjae said his homeroom teacher was a pig. I said that didn’t seem like a very nice thing to say. “Why is she a pig?” I asked.
“She gives horrible test!” He explained, which I could see leading to antipathy, but didn’t really make her a pig. “And she gives me food all the time. Extra food. She keeps making me eat!” Jeongjae is very skinny. Maybe she’s trying to take care of him.
“Hmm,” I mused. “That sounds more like a pig-farmer, than a pig.” This went right over the boy’s head. But Eunjin, in the other corner of the room, broke out in a fit of giggles. She’s very quiet, but her English comprehension is excellent. She got the joke.
Later, we were talking about wild animals. “Are there any wild animals in Ilsan?” I asked.
Jeongjae’s hand shot up. “My homeroom teacher!” He announced, confidently.
The best was when Donghun’s hand shot up, unbidden. “Teacher!” He exclaimed, as if making a profound discovery. “My favorite beer is Heineken!” Out of the blue, and his accent was flawless. This is from a seventh grader. I think it’s from a television commercial. I couldn’t help but laugh at this.
[Daily log: walking, 5 km; running, 3 km]
Caveat: Niebla
NIEBLA
La niebla ha ido adensándose
en forro azul-ceniciento
y cegando el mar nos hurta
la nidada de archipiélagos:
hembra tramposa y ladina
que marcha con pasos lerdos.Difumina a Chiloé,
llega hasta Tierra del Fuego
y trueca en malabaristas
lomos de niño y de ciervo,
y mi bulto escamotea
sólo porque lloren ellos.Ya las trampas le conozco
de Redondear el cerco
y hacer "la gallina ciega"
con el pastor o el arriero.
Ella ahora está jugándonos
el su sempiterno juego
y urde ballenas y pulpos
de un vago mar hechicero.
Nos da por bien ahogados,
perdidos y prisioneros,
aunque estarnos bajo de ella,
como Dios nos hizo: enteros.Les cuchicheo a mis críos
que no es bulto, que es resuello,
que no es brazo de ahogarnos,
que es, no más, bostezo muerto,
que no peleamos con héroe
sino con blanco esperpento.
Y el huevo azul entreabrimos
a lancetadas de acentos
y se lo desbaratamos
con los dos calientes cuerpos.En el acuario de niebla,
acribillado de engendros,
el remador de tres mares
se ha puesto a contar sucesos;
dice los lentos canales,
romances los estrechos
como quien devana mundos
con las manos y los gestos.Ahora el viejo está contando
el largo relato añejo,
de las costas masticadas
por el mar de duros belfos
y está diciendo a la Antártida
que habemos y que no habemos…La Antártida de su boca
sube como alción en vuelo,
el blanco animal divino
engolado y soñoliento.
Así con ella dormimos
fraternales y mansuetos,
la bestezuela del símbolo
y el indio calenturiento.Nos acabamos en donde
se acaba igual que en los cuentos,
la Madraza que es la tierra
y acaba en santo silencio;
pero los tres alcanzamos
el apretado secreto,
el blancor no conocido,
el intocado Misterio.– Gabriela Mistral, de su Poema de Chile
Caveat: Karaoke Class
We’ve been doing a lot of karaoke (노래방 [noraebang] in Korean) in class at Karma. We’re preparing for a talent show. I heard some girls doing a really pretty good rendition of this song, today. I don’t really like the song. But it’s stuck in my head, now.
What I’m listening to right now.
Bruno Mars, “Marry You.” The video isn’t the official Bruno Mars video – it’s something someone did for a film class, I think.
[Daily log: walking, 4 km; running, 4 km]
Caveat: please refrain from making love excessively
I ran across the following sticker recently.
The English translation in smaller letters is quite alarming. It says: “please refrain from making love excessively.” This seems R-Rated, and not the sort of thing a kid should have on a backpack.
But the Korean isn’t really that strongly worded. What it says is “애정행각금지.” A brief internet search and/or dictionary quest reveals that “애정행각” basically just means what Americans call PDA – “Public Displays of Affection.” So with the “금지” tacked on, a much better (and milder) translation would be “PDA Prohibitted.” This is much more G-Rated, and could even be imagined to be posted in a park or school or church. I think the point of the sticker is a little bit ironic. But with the atrocious English translation, it goes from irony to downright weird pretty quickly.
Caveat: Recordings in Akkadian
It turns out that some professors of ancient, extinct languages such as Babylonian, Assyrian and Akkadian (which are all related to each other and to modern Arabic and Hebrew) have decided to make voice recordings of Mesopotamian literature (including Gilgamesh!). These recordings are hosted at the University of Cambridge, here. I’m weird: I like this. I listen to them… without understanding them.
Meanwhile, I’ve been regretting the fact that I kind of dropped the ball on my efforts to develop an exercise routine, last fall. So starting today, I’m going to post a “daily log” as a footnote to my evening blog-post. Such as it were. I walked around part of the lake at the park, this evening, after work.
[Daily log: walking, 7 km; running, 1 km]
Caveat: Rearrangements
Perhaps as a tribute to my one year anniversary in this Ilsan apartment, I tried rearranging my furniture a little bit. I have a desk and a sofa – those are my bulkiest items. I have no bed – I long ago fully adopted the Korean custom of throwing a blanket on the floor, for sleeping – I just fold it up and put in a corner during the day. A few times I have fallen asleep on my sofa, but although it's comfortable to lounge on and was worth every one of the 150 bucks I spent on it last May, especially reading a book, it's not a pleasant place to sleep.
So last night I had this idea to somehow get my desk closer to my window area, but that puts it close to the sofa. It makes for a more open, roomy apartment with all the crap crammed into one end of it. I don't think I like the feel of it. But now I'm too burned out to rearrange it again just yet. Maybe later. I do like sitting close to the window, now that it's suddenly summer – I can look out at the next building's rooftop garden thing and hear the city noises.
Caveat: And Then, Summer
What happened to spring? It was hot today. Summer. What’s with that? Wasn’t it just winter?
OK. Whatever.
My Korean friend Mr Kim of Gwangju called me out the blue today. Why am I so bad at staying in touch with people I genuinely like and am pleased to interact with? Well, I’m glad he called. He was wondering why I never came to visit him in Gwangju. I gave some excuse about being busy… the fact is, I’m lazy and simply haven’t taken the time to travel down there. Maybe this summer, right? I have other people to visit in Gwangju too. Picture, at right: a photo of a painted outside wall panel of a temple I visited at Mudeung mountain, Gwangju.
What I’m listening to right now.
한동준, “너를사랑해.” 가사:
아침이 오는 소리에
문득 잠에서 깨어
내 품안에 잠든 너에게
워우우워 우워워
너를 사랑해
내가 힘겨울때마다
너는 항상 내 곁에
따스하게 어깨 감싸며
워우우워 우워워
너를 사랑해
영원히 우리에겐
서글픈 이별은 없어
때로는 슬픔에
눈물도 흘리지만
언제나 너와 함께
새하얀 꿈을 꾸면서
하늘이 우리를
갈라놓을 때까지
워우우워 우워워
너를 사랑해내가 힘겨울때마다
너는 항상 내 곁에
따스하게 어깨 감싸며
워우우워 우워워
너를 사랑해
영원히 우리에겐
서글픈 이별은 없어
때로는 슬픔에
눈물도 흘리지만
언제나 너와 함께
새하얀 꿈을 꾸면서
하늘이 우리를
갈라놓을 때까지
워우우워 우워워
너를 사랑해
너를 사랑해
Caveat: ¿qué piense Ud?
This academic paper is potentially interesting, but I can't really say, since it's behind a paywall. Here's the abstract, in full:
Would you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases. Four experiments show that the framing effect disappears when choices are presented in a foreign tongue. Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language. Two additional experiments show that using a foreign language reduces loss aversion, increasing the acceptance of both hypothetical and real bets with positive expected value. We propose that these effects arise because a foreign language provides greater cognitive and emotional distance than a native tongue does.
I have some questions. How is "thinking in a foreign language" defined? If you're thinking in it, how is it foreign? What about native bilinguals?
Caveat: 헌짚신도 짝이 있다
헌 짚신도 짝이 있다
old straw shoe-TOO mate-COMPL has
Even an old straw shoe has a mate.
There’s someone for everyone. “Every Jack has his Jill.” Really? I’m sceptical.
Caveat: 쓰레기를 먹는 공룡
As long as we’re on the topic of dystopian(-ish) children’s literature (see previous post), I dug out one of my favorite Korean children’s books that I’ve run across (not that there are that many in my repertoire). It’s entitled 쓰레기를 먹는 공룡, which roughly translates as The Trash-Eating Dinosaur. I love this book, even though I have not, in fact, successfully read it front-to-back. I like the pictures, I like the aesthetic, I like the theme. And I’ve worked through some fragments. It’s a much higher-level, more difficult kid’s book than the others I’ve blogged about here so far. But anyway. I probably like it partly because it reminds me of the Wump World (see, again, previous post). More retro-futuristic dystopianism, but this time, with a Korean cultural twist.
The basic plot is (or seems to be – remember that my ability to read Korean is pretty lousy) that there is a dinosaur that is discovered that eats trash. He’s put to work, but there are unforeseen consequences – environmental, of course, but also with respect to the dinosaur’s quality-of-life, if you will. Things are resolved happily, of course, just like the Wump World – it’s kid’s lit, after all.
Here are some samples of the book. I love the sketch-like illustrations. Here’s the dinosaur strolling around a clearly Seoul-like metropolis (note historical city-wall gate on upper right-hand edge of the drawing – it reminds me too of the 팔달문 neighborhood in Suwon where I used to stay).
Here’s the dinosaur hard at work. Note the iconic dung-piles in the lower left – these are part of a powerful contemporary visual meme among Korean school children – I see them drawn surreptitiously on desks, blackboards, and books on a daily basis.
I like the politician or public official trying to berate (or interview? – these concepts are interconnected in Korean culture) the dinosaur in this picture.
Caveat: Star Trek: Planet Pollutus
I was watching old episodes of Star Trek: Voyager – because I’m something of a trekkie, and I’m feeling yucky and therefore doing absolutely nothing productive with my time. And there was an episode called “Workforce” from season 7, in which the crew of the starship are all abducted by a society with a labor shortage. They’re brainwashed and put to work. There were some scenery tableaux in that episode that seemed to evoke, in my mind at least, the aesthetic of one of the singularly most influential children’s books in my own past: Bill Peet’s Wump World.
Here’s a scene from the episode.
Here’s a scene from the old children’s classic that, while obviously not identical, bears some striking resemblance at least in my mind.
You might call it the “Pollutian Aesthetic” – since the Wump World has been taken over by the Pollutians from the Planet Pollutus. In the Star Trek episode, there’s a dash of Orwell’s 1984 (or successor aesthetics like the movie V, for example), too. You might call it retro-futuristic dystopianism.
Caveat: Dubtrot
Out there in the wide, wide interwebs, there exist subcultures you never dreamed about. A blogger named Kottke reminded me of the world surrounding fans of My Little Pony. This includes people who take sound and video clips of the cartoon and make dubsteb music videos to post on the youtubes. This is called dubtrot, of course.
What I’m listening to right now.
My Little Pony – Rainbowstep (Skrillex Dubstep).
Does this even require commentary? It speaks for itself.
Caveat: Vacation is a durable good
This is econ-nerd stuff, and not very interesting for most. But I find it fascinating. A guest post by Garrett Jones at McArdle at Atlantic explains. It makes perfect sense to me.
Spring has fully arrived. My apartment is unpleasantly warm, yet the windows are open. Time to find my fan and activate it? Maybe.
Caveat: …ca mucho auie grandes cuydados
De los sos oios tan fuerte mientre lorando
Tornaua la cabeça e estaua los catando:
Vio puertas abiertas e vços sin cannados,
Alcandaras uazias sin pielles e sin mantos,
E sin falcones e sin adtores mudados.
Sospiro Myo Çid ca mucho auie grandes cuydados.
Ffablo Myo Çid bien e tan mesurado:
Grado a ti Sennor Padre que estas en alto,
Esto me an buelto myos enemigos malos.
Leí El Cantar de Mio Cid por primera vez en 1986, apenas todavía aprendiendo bien el español. Así desde el principio, mi experiencia con el idioma se radicaba en sus aspectos poéticos e históricos. Y desde aquel principio. me fascinaba lo medieval. Este poema data del siglo 12. Tiene 800 años y todavía es comprensible.
Caveat: Another Blog Post
This is my second post for today. I feel lousy. I'm posting this to my blog because I have a rule, now, that I have two posts per day no matter what. So you can read this and think, wow, it looks like Jared posted something new to his blog again. But in fact, it will be disappointing, because this is just a kind of metatextual place-holder with no actual blogular content for you to enjoy or ponder or depreciate or ignore.
Caveat: 감기
Over the last several days I’ve come down with a truly horrendous cold/flu (감기). My voice sounds low and gravelly and halting. It’s a good thing work has been relatively undemanding, as I still have a reduced teaching schedule due to the middle-schoolers’ mid-term test-prep time, but our upcoming first annual Karma talent show is demanding that I do a lot talking in the classes I do have – we’re practicing songs and skits with my elementary students. I end each day voiceless and hoarse.