::A Geek in Korea::

My students have  a series of rigorous mandated mid-term tests beginning next week. These tests are standardized, so all my elementary students will be taking tests in at least the following subjects:

Korean (국어) (gook-oh),

Math (수학)(su-hak),

History (사학)(sa-hak),

and Science (과학) (kwa-hak).

This is also abbreviated as: ( 국,수,사,과) (gook, su, sa, kwa). Students always recite the abbreviations while subtracting on their fingers, as if each finger represented one of the subjects.

I find the coincidence of how they list of the tests amusing, because 국수 (gook-su) in Korean means “noodles“, and “사과” (sa-kwa) in Korean means “apple”. I’m not sure if it’s the order of the tests as they are given, or sheer coincidence.

At the end of the class today, as the students were getting ready to leave, I would wish the students luck on their “Noodle Apple Test”. Students looked at me for a minute, then would do their hand subtraction routine. Some would grin, but others would scowl in annoyance. “NO! TEACHER! NOT NOODLE APPLE! 국,수,사,과!”

“Yeah, Noodle, gook-su, Apple, sa-kwa! Score a 100% on your Noodle Apple Test! Bye Bye!”

I realize my humor in Korean is exactly like that lame uncle you would run into at your family’s Christmas party. You know the one that always gave you a noogie, or stole your nose when you met them, and then tortured you with bad puns until they needed to get up to get a beer.

I’ve got that lame, barely funny quality to all my Korean jokes. I really relish telling my bad jokes to students. It’s not because I know they will laugh, it’s because I know they won’t, and I enjoy their efforts in trying to tell me why I am so lame or wrong.  Their frustration at my poor jokes is my satisfaction. I guess this is what Yakov Smirnoff felt like.