Word prohibition/Crazy idea

We've been getting a lot of emails lately from work asking us to do things, changes to be made etc, etc. Last week we received an email from one of our managers with a request/demand relaying a message from 'The Top'.

"** **** would like everyone to try to refrain from using the word 'CRAZY' in the classroom."

Another example of pandering to the parents. Granted they are indirectly paying my wages but if they knew some of the things that their little angels were coming out with in class then maybe they would be less pedantic about innocuous things like this. I've had more insults from students than I care to recall. This is an order for all teachers to obey (native English language speaking teachers, I don't know about Koreans).

I am well aware that crazy in Korean can be taken as meaning mentally handicapped so I never use the word in an offensive manner. By the way, my students say crazy all of the time. Are they supposed to be self censoring too now? If we are going down this line then perhaps it would be a good idea to make sure that all students don't say NO or WHY when I ask them to do something or show a little respect to their English 'teacher'.

Taxi drivers in Korea allowed to watch TV

Often people complain about the laws in Britain and the lack of justice. Wherever you go and whatever country you're in that's a pretty common complaint. In Korea I have started to take more and more notice of what is going on around me, trying to be aware of where I stand as a current resident of this country and what is happening in the news and I've noticed things are not always quite right. From time to time I have heard of some outrageous miscarriages of justice here on this part of the peninsula. At times it feels like the place is still a third world war torn country when the opposite is true. Yes Korea still baffles me with its struggles to keep pace with the changes that take place here. One latest 'crazy' news story is to be found here.


To summarise the piece, taxi drivers in South Korea can continue to have televisions on their dashboards despite the obvious risks they can cause. Not every taxi driver has one but a great many do. At times I feel like I am taking my life in my own hands when I enter a taxi at night time. They operate with different rules to others on the roads, i.e. none at all. I have found Koreans to be the worst drivers I have come across so far in my life. If I had a child I would fear for its life when out walking around. Anyway one thing we see in many taxis is the TV screen on the dashboard that the driver watches when waiting for a passenger AND when he is driving them around. I once sat in the back as the driver drove me home while watching an Eric Clapton gig on his TV. I made it back home somehow but don't want to go through that again any time soon. Luckily we didn't get round to Tears In Heaven. Now this is not illegal. Ridiculous is what it is and it's a very Korean ruling. I 'look forward' to the next crazy legal story I come across, which should be any day now.