The Smell of Konglish in the Morning
I arrive at the office at 10:00 am today. By 10:05 I was having the following IM conversation with a friend:
Me: Some days I can’t even get to my desk before I start sighing in exasperation.
Friend: oh-oh. what happened?
Me: i walked through the door of my office, looked at the headline of a newspaper on the coffee table while on my way to the water cooler and I saw that Pusan is now a “Cineport.”
Friend: WHAT?!
Friend: which newspaper?
Me: i don’t know… I can go check if you want to know.
Friend: what the hell is a cineport?
Me: CINEMA PORT…. a city with a port and a movie industry.
Friend: oh f–k that’s the funniest thing i’ve heard
Me:
Friend: whose brilliant idea was that?
Me: City hall….
Me: who else?
Friend: if my job now consists of me having to market this fricken region of korea as a cineport i’m going to bitch
Me: well…..
Friend: UB Cineport…they aren’t trying to pass that off as english are they? please tell me it will only remain as konglish and never cross over…
Me: Ah.. the dreaded “UB”…forgot about the ubituitous use of the word “UBiquitious.” nope… for now I have only seen “Cineport” in Korean. Haven’t seen it in English yet, but, like bird flu, it’s only a matter of time.
Friend: hahaha that’s what i fear
Me: Let’s call city hall and tell them to put it in English and to add “UB.” Pusan can be a “UB Cineport.” We will be heros!
Friend: sadly enough they’d love it
Friend: why can’t they just do it in chinese?
Friend: the whole country wants to cozy up to china since they all hate the US now
Friend: that’s my suggestion
Me: Sigh.