blufr buster bloopers
Saturday, 10. March 2007, 04:29:45
I finally decided to add a daily blufr to the left margin of my main blog at the 2HA site. It will give us a daily quiz question on various topics (heavily American in content, though, which was why I originally did not add it to the page). You should guess "way!" if you agree, "no way!" if you disagree. The button will then take you to the correct explanation. I think it may even keep track of the number of right and wrong answers that you make.
Blufr also has a video part of their site, called Bluf Busters. I will include one episode here, and then comment on it.
So, here we go with Episode 4 of the Bluf Busters video series.
see the other episodes too!
I hope you find the video humorous, or slightly so. It is a good attempt at an American dot.com start-up reaching out to other cultures.
The little lantern that the host refers to is probably the mid-Autumn Full Moon Festival held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. (Eight is the sacred number of Buddhism, and 15 gives us the half-way point of the lunar cycle, or maximum full moon). In Korean it is called Chusok or Chuseok 2.
The episode seems to have been shot in a basement (they must be on a budget).
The host claims that the special guest, Kang Sim, has been a friend for a long time, even from before high school. The host says that Kang Sim is from China. It seems as if they have prepared some blufr questions about China, and they will spring them on Kang Sim to see if he can remember most of his "Chinese " background.
Well, as you noticed, Kang Sim corrects the host, and says that he is Korean, in fact, South Korean. I guess their supposed friendship was quite superficial. How can they be friends for so long, and the host doesn't know what Kang's mother tongue or homeland is? It's not that one's personal geographic history is of great importance to the future flourishing of a friendship, but one would think that it would have surfaced somehow in their discussions on music, art, language, culture, food, yinyang. But perhaps they didn't talk about those things in or outside the classroom: thus, the apparent vacuum or void of sorts in the black box of the brain of the host.
The host then says, "Isn't that the Mandarin part of China?" Mmm, not exactly, dear sir. Yes, Chinese culture in a previous time period seeped or strove across topographies, and yes, Koreans in middle school study Chinese characters because they are still used on formal occasions in Korea. But, as in any visitation or sojourn into another region and wanting more than visitation rights (see doccupation below), the host or pacified party never forgets their original language, ideas, culture. Despite attempts to erase the same, the instilled tradition remains, even if hidden for a short or long period of time. Korean nor Japanese is not the same as Chinese. And "mainstream" or Han Chinese is not the same as Yami 2 3 4 5
Let us learn about and respect the wisdom traditions of all the peoples of the world.
Like the North American Indian culture, regardless of the steamroller effect of European culture and agreement of convenience, aboriginal (=from beginning) culture (unlike the Library of Alexandria which was destroyed by fire) has survived, albeit in pockets which are not the same as ecological niches but are called "reservations", but at great expense, with considerable loss of pride and self-respect, simultaneous with the lingering presence of prejudice and the forces of indifference.
Well, back to the video. It appears as though Kang Sim is playing a game with the host, and when he asks him to translate a word in Chinese, Kang Sim responds by telling him a very different word in Korean.
At the restaurant, the host uses one of those words, much to the chagrin of the waitress, who proceeds to pour green tea over the host.
I think the intention is good, but I don't know whether they should have edited out the bloopers and cultural left field fly-outs or not.
Maybe it was all intended to be mixed up! Slap happy buffoonery! Culture schlock! It is true that seldom someone is put up on trial for cultural indifference, but behind every page, every face, every rock, every door, there's a much bigger story.
Isn't it true that many of us have cultural blinders? Culture is a lens; change the lens, and the world looks quite different.
They proceed with the question about cricket fighting, and then pass on to the question about 346 words for rice 1 2.
Kang Sim replies to the questions, I think, with nonsense answers. I think he is trying to bluff the bluffing experts! [:futbal note: Is the worldwide use of Microsoft software considered a kind of ".doccupation"?
:]
from the Blog of The Two Hands Approach to The English Language
Blufr also has a video part of their site, called Bluf Busters. I will include one episode here, and then comment on it.
So, here we go with Episode 4 of the Bluf Busters video series.
see the other episodes too!
I hope you find the video humorous, or slightly so. It is a good attempt at an American dot.com start-up reaching out to other cultures.
The little lantern that the host refers to is probably the mid-Autumn Full Moon Festival held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. (Eight is the sacred number of Buddhism, and 15 gives us the half-way point of the lunar cycle, or maximum full moon). In Korean it is called Chusok or Chuseok 2.
The episode seems to have been shot in a basement (they must be on a budget).
The host claims that the special guest, Kang Sim, has been a friend for a long time, even from before high school. The host says that Kang Sim is from China. It seems as if they have prepared some blufr questions about China, and they will spring them on Kang Sim to see if he can remember most of his "Chinese " background.
Well, as you noticed, Kang Sim corrects the host, and says that he is Korean, in fact, South Korean. I guess their supposed friendship was quite superficial. How can they be friends for so long, and the host doesn't know what Kang's mother tongue or homeland is? It's not that one's personal geographic history is of great importance to the future flourishing of a friendship, but one would think that it would have surfaced somehow in their discussions on music, art, language, culture, food, yinyang. But perhaps they didn't talk about those things in or outside the classroom: thus, the apparent vacuum or void of sorts in the black box of the brain of the host.
The host then says, "Isn't that the Mandarin part of China?" Mmm, not exactly, dear sir. Yes, Chinese culture in a previous time period seeped or strove across topographies, and yes, Koreans in middle school study Chinese characters because they are still used on formal occasions in Korea. But, as in any visitation or sojourn into another region and wanting more than visitation rights (see doccupation below), the host or pacified party never forgets their original language, ideas, culture. Despite attempts to erase the same, the instilled tradition remains, even if hidden for a short or long period of time. Korean nor Japanese is not the same as Chinese. And "mainstream" or Han Chinese is not the same as Yami 2 3 4 5
Let us learn about and respect the wisdom traditions of all the peoples of the world.
Like the North American Indian culture, regardless of the steamroller effect of European culture and agreement of convenience, aboriginal (=from beginning) culture (unlike the Library of Alexandria which was destroyed by fire) has survived, albeit in pockets which are not the same as ecological niches but are called "reservations", but at great expense, with considerable loss of pride and self-respect, simultaneous with the lingering presence of prejudice and the forces of indifference.
Well, back to the video. It appears as though Kang Sim is playing a game with the host, and when he asks him to translate a word in Chinese, Kang Sim responds by telling him a very different word in Korean.
At the restaurant, the host uses one of those words, much to the chagrin of the waitress, who proceeds to pour green tea over the host.
I think the intention is good, but I don't know whether they should have edited out the bloopers and cultural left field fly-outs or not.
Maybe it was all intended to be mixed up! Slap happy buffoonery! Culture schlock! It is true that seldom someone is put up on trial for cultural indifference, but behind every page, every face, every rock, every door, there's a much bigger story.
Isn't it true that many of us have cultural blinders? Culture is a lens; change the lens, and the world looks quite different.
They proceed with the question about cricket fighting, and then pass on to the question about 346 words for rice 1 2.
Kang Sim replies to the questions, I think, with nonsense answers. I think he is trying to bluff the bluffing experts! [:futbal note: Is the worldwide use of Microsoft software considered a kind of ".doccupation"?
:]from the Blog of The Two Hands Approach to The English Language
WIDGETIZE