"Safety First," by Gerry Bevers

‎"Safety First"

Feel my groin,
Give it a squeeze.
Just don't snicker, please.

Feel her breasts,
And check the rest.
Please do not caress.

Let's fly safe;
Rather be late,
Then the news at eight.

by Gerry Bevers

"Young Heroes," by Gerry Bevers

"Young Heroes"

Young, patriotic, and full of life, 

They join to fight for what is right. 

With a big smile, a hug and a kiss, 

They say "Goodbye" and then say this: 

 "Don't worry about me. I'll take care." 

"I'll return to you from over there." 

When the sad news comes, it makes us cry. 

Now with God, they never meant to lie. 

 by Gerry Bevers

A snake 40 to 50 feet long in Korea?

Did you know the Japanese supposedly found and killed a snake between forty and fifty feet long (4, 5 jang – 丈) in Hamheung, Korea in 1906? One jang (丈) is supposed to be ten cheok (척 - 尺), and one cheok is supposed to be about one foot. In pure Korean, cheok (척 - 尺) is written as 자.

The Japanese supposedly burned the snake, which caused a stench so bad that seven Japanese soldiers died that night after vomiting up blood.

Do you always wear your seat belt?

좌석(안전) 벨트를 항상 매세요?

Korean Phychologist Suggests Apolo Ohno "Abnormal" and "Immature"

The Dong Ilbo, which is one of Korea's big three newspapers, has posted an article entitled, "Ohno's Spiteful Actions, Result of Immaturity and Lack of Love?," in which a Korean phychologist suggests that Ohno's "spiteful actions is a result of immature and excessive self devotion and a lack of love."

I will translate the article when I have more time.

Korean Media Distorts Apolo Ohno's Statements

Ever since Apolo Ohno won the silver medal in men's 1,500 short-track on February 13 at the 2010 Vacouver Winter Olympics, the Korean media has been conducting a vicious, unfair smear campaign against Ohno. The Korean media is not only describing Ohno in hateful, unfair language, but they are misquoting and distorting his statements to the English media.

The following is a February 16, 2010 SBS News report on Ohno. It is typical of what is being said in much of the Korean media. SBS NEWS is one of the three big news organizations in Korea.
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Anchor: Apolo Ohno, who was the “undeserving” (implied – 어부지리) winner of a silver medal in Men’s 1,500-meter short-track, has made another ridiculous claim that has aggitated our athletes.

Even though he had clearly committed an illegal action, he has made the ridiculous claim that he lost the gold medal because of the interferrence of our athletes.

Reporter Jeong Gyu-jin covers it in Vancouver.

[Reporter]

This is a scene from the men’s 1,500 meter race.

A scene of Ohno grabbing and tugging on the left arm of Seong Si-Baek, as Ohno wedged his way in at the inside corner, has been clearly captured on camera by the SBS crew. The situation lasted close to three seconds.

During the semi-finals, he also used his arm to push Lee Jeong-su, which caused Lee Jeong-su to show an expression of surprise.

Even though these are the facts, in an interview with American media, he said if Korean athletes had not impeded my way, the results could have been a lot different. He also claimed that he had never once grabbed another competitor.

After having said immediately after the race that he had hoped Korean athletes would be disqualified, he is once again aggravating our team.

However, it has become known that he has acknowledged the thoughtlessness of the irratating hand gesture he made after winning the race as a result of our athletes crashing into each other.

[American Short-track Team Coach Jeon Jae-su: It was extremely unsportsmanlike behavior, so I angrily scolded him immediately after the race. And, actually, Ohno has been greatly reflecting on that part, and said he does not know why he did it.]

After causing waves with his statements, Ohno has refused interviews while showing a consistent, hardened expression throughout practice.

Analysts think Ohno’s statement shows that he intends to use scuffles during the remaining races to get favorable judgements.

Notice that SBS News did not use any quotation marks in their report, but other news outlets reporting on the SBS report did. For example, Newsway quoted Ohno as saying the following:

I have never interfered with another athlete by grabbing his arm or leg and holding on for so long.

“나는 한번도 어떤 선수의 팔이나 다리를 이처럼 오랫동안 붙잡아 방해한 적이 없다”

First, both news reports are misquoting Ohno. Ohno did not say he had never "held another athlete's arm or leg"; he said his arm or leg had never been held by another athlete for so long. HERE is what Ohno said:

I definitely don’t think it’s typical, not in my sport. I’ve never had anyone hold onto my leg or arm that long. If it weren’t for that, the outcome would have been much different.

I started to pass one of the Korean skaters on the inside, and he put his left hand over and blocked me. That’s when I lost a lot of my speed.

The (earlier) bump allowed the others to catch up. That’s short track. When I saw those two guys lining up to pass on the final lap, I knew something was going to happen. It was a mistake on their part, and worked in my favor.

Everyone wants to win, and gets caught up in the emotions. All three of those Korean skaters are tough and strong. It was one of the hardest races I’ve skated in.

I do not know what Ohno meant by his hand gesture, but I know it to mean “stop,” as in “stop doing something.”

I do not know why Ohno’s Korean coach said what he did to the Korean media, but since the Korean coach did not make a similar declaration to the English media, I am suspicious. Ohno’s Korean coach seemed to be feeding Korea’s hatred for Ohno, not appeasing it. I wonder if Ohno even knows what his coach told the Korean media?

SBS News was trying to make Koreans believe that Ohno had cheated by grabbing the Korean skater's arm, but it you watch the SBS VIDEO, you will see that it was the Korean who grabbed and held on to Ohno's knee until Ohno finally knocked his arm away. That allowed the Korean skater's teammate to skate around on the outside. Watch the video and judge for yourselves.

How do you say "Uh-oh" in Korean?

Picture from Sports Illustrated site.

How do you say "elk" in Korean?

My dictionary says elk is 말코손바닥사슴. A deer with a horse's nose and hoofs? UPDATE: 말코손바닥사슴 is the Korean word for "moose," not elk. The word is descriptive since 말코 means "horse nose" and 손바닥 means "palm," which most likely refers to the palm-shaped antlers of the moose. 사슴 means "deer."

Photo of a moose from Wikipedia

The Korean word for elk seems to be 와피티사슴, which comes from the Korean transliteration of "wapiti" (와피티), another name for "elk."

Photo of an elk from Wikipedia

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By the way, can anyone count how many elk are in the following video?