Comments on: Whatever "a good walk spoiled" would be in Korean

Whatever "a good walk spoiled" would be in Korean

emelenjr — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:19:02 -0800

By: Dumsnill

Dumsnill — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:36:55 -0800

Jeg har hørt om dette språket, det er visstnok populært, men ærlig talt: Å tvinge folk til å beherske et språk for å delta i en sportsgren? Føkk dætt sjitt!

By: Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger

Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:38:09 -0800

Golf is boring in any language, isn't it?

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:38:14 -0800

"You don't want any barriers when it comes to what the LPGA does best, and that's to interact with fans, sponsors and pro-am players." Translation: "The male executives at our sponsors are complaining that they're having trouble hitting on our players."

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:39:19 -0800

This is about hating on brown people, right?

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:45:43 -0800

Wow, that's shitty.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:49:44 -0800

One of the joys of sport, like music, is the chance for a shared experience that transcends language barriers. But I suppose you can always deliberately cripple it to prevent that feature. It wouldn't have occurred to me.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:02:29 -0800

It's their gig. They can mandate Siberian Yupik if they want.

By: clearly

clearly — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:06:04 -0800

Very well chap, it looks like you struck that one right into the drink. Perhaps it is because you were drinking enough Johnny Walker to put Winston Churchill to shame. HA HA. Am I doing it right?

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:06:16 -0800

Can someone who knows about LPGA tell us what's really going on here? Is this about eliminating an unpopular player? Did someone spoil a corporate sponsorship by not saying the right line? Are the Korean players less attractive and thus bad for ratings?

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:34:35 -0800

"We're focusing on the fact that we're in the sports entertainment business and we have to interact with fans and sponsors," LPGA deputy commissioner Libba Galloway said. I'd just like to point out that "Sports Entertainment" is also what professional wrestling is called, and that they call themselves this now instead of calling themselves a sport. Just sayin'.

By: rodgerd

rodgerd — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:36:12 -0800

Are the Korean players less attractive and thus bad for ratings? A cynic would wonder if there's too many Korean women kicking American arses.

By: Memo

Memo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:42:06 -0800

roll truck roll: "Can someone who knows about LPGA tell us what's really going on here? Is this about eliminating an unpopular player? Did someone spoil a corporate sponsorship by not saying the right line? Are the Korean players less attractive and thus bad for ratings?" The only thing I can see besides the whole 'YOU NEED TO SPEAK ENGLISH TO SELL OUR PRODUCTS' thing is that non-english speakers are winning more games than the american players. (Wiki link) However, I think that it's about sponsor money more than anything else. Maybe the sponsors complained that the winners couldn't tell the press they won only because of X product.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:49:23 -0800

Can someone who knows about LPGA tell us what's really going on here? Is this about eliminating an unpopular player? Did someone spoil a corporate sponsorship by not saying the right line? Are the Korean players less attractive and thus bad for ratings? Well, there have been various grumblings about the Korean players in the past, grumblings about course etiquette and other things. The most serious have been accusations of cheating by Korean players, with the help of their families, who are perceived as stage-managing their daughters, like "tennis dads" do. Some of the cheating accusations have been fathers shouting out club selections and strategy, when that's only supposed to be done by the caddies, and serving as human yardage markers on the course. From a sponsorship perspective, the players are already being fined if there are complaints from pro-am events (for those that don't know, a pro-am event is where a sponsor or some other exec type is paired up with a player for a day on the course. Obviously, the players hate it -- they'd much rather be practicing or resting). So, it's likely that the Koreans are generating more complaints because they're not so buddy-buddy with the sponsors. And let's face it ... the LPGA is dominated by lesbian cliques. I'm sure that plays into it, too. The LPGA has been a closed little system for quite some time, just puttering along at its own speed, and then along comes this "Korean invasion," so to speak.

By: bwg

bwg — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:50:17 -0800

What ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?

By: droplet

droplet — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:51:00 -0800

Clearly, old chap, I bally well think you need to pop a bit of the P.G. in the old noggin, what? Preferably with a G&T or B. Mary well in hand. I know. Any bally excuse to say "bally well." I've no shame. As for the LPGA, though they can if they want to as a private organization, English needn't be required. Seems to me that if a golfer feels she's losing money because she doesn't know English, then common sense (or her agent) will get her in ESL classes pretty damn quick.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:51:07 -0800

Tiger Woods seems to sell a shit-load of everything and I've never heard the guy so much as make a peep. He might grunt and holler like a macaque for all I know. He just hits the ball and looks into the camera. He rarely even appears directly with the product, except in the Buick ads. This is stupid. The Korean golfers should just hire a voice actor who will speak for them whenever necessary.

By: ~

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:04:38 -0800

Føkk dætt sjitt. er... hva?

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:04:50 -0800

Imagine if the English Premier League tried to adopt something as inane as this. I challenge them to name one other professional sports league that suffers due to language barriers.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:13:13 -0800

I challenge them to name one other professional sports league that suffers due to language barriers. That's what seems to weird about it to me. It seems that diverse backgrounds are a lot of what makes sports interesting. Part of what makes pro sports exciting are the stories. A Taiwanese immigrant, a former Sudanese refugee, a drafted-from-high-school golden boy, and a grizzled old timer can play together on the same team. If you can't make money off of stories like that, then get the fuck out of advertising. DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NEVER WATCHED GOLF.

By: GoingToShopping

GoingToShopping — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:48:39 -0800

It's really not so bad as it seems, guys. The policy states that they work with people who fail the oral competency test, and it only applies to people who have been playing longer than two years. If you click on the "you" link, you'll find out that there really are problems with not being able to understand rules and whatnot; one young lady drove 400 miles back home, checked the internet, and found out the tournament wasn't over yet, then had to drive 400 miles back to finish up. That's absurd. I'm rather shocked to finally find something I disagree with the ACLU about, but honestly, as an American ex-pat living in Japan, I think it's shameful if someone has lived in a country for a substantial period of time and still can't even speak the native language well enough to figure out the basic rules and format of a game. The association explicitly states that it will help those who fail to better succeed, and it's all done in a very fair fashion. From where I'm standing, all the disagreement with the policy sounds like "I don't wanna have to study" whining on the part of some very lazy athletes. Maintaining one's culture is of the utmost importance, but so is integration with your new host country. This really does seem to be in everyone's best interests, and even if there is racism afloat at the events, that doesn't appear to be the motivating factor behind this. Not to me, at least.

By: Ella Fynoe

Ella Fynoe — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:55:12 -0800

I'm a huge sports fan, and am glued to the Sawx-MFY game right now (well, after this pitching change, thanks for the runs Sir Sidney). However, were I never to hear a professional athlete speak again, it wouldn't diminish my enjoyment of sports one bit. I don't want to watch Nobel Prize winners play baseball either.

By: GoingToShopping

GoingToShopping — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:56:46 -0800

Ok, reading again (just woke up), it seems like the only people actually complaining are the ACLU and some journalists hunting for a story. All the players actually seem to support this.

By: Dumsnill

Dumsnill — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:57:35 -0800

Føkk dætt sjitt. Yes, my Scandinavian pronunciation of encouragements to have sex with dung has saved my golf career oh so many times.

By: adoarns

adoarns — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:59:22 -0800

Metafilter: Føkk dætt sjitt.

By: ~

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:08:28 -0800

Yes, my Scandinavian pronunciation of encouragements to have sex with dung has saved my golf career oh so many times. Ironically my mock-scandinavian cursing has gotten me into trouble a couple of times.

By: jrochest

jrochest — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:56:37 -0800

It's Norwegian, I think.

By: leftcoastbob

leftcoastbob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:22:31 -0800

If Scandinavian is a language, then I think golfers should speak it.

By: six-or-six-thirty

six-or-six-thirty — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:24:03 -0800

My favorite Norwegian word is søppelbøtte. Because it's pronounced 'supple butt'. As in, 'Jeg har a søpplebøtte!' Completely on topic. Off to read the link now.

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:42:26 -0800

GoingToShopping: it appears that sports fans here on Metafilter are complaining about it, and I'm sure they are on other blogs as well. "I think it's shameful if someone has lived in a country for a substantial period of time and still can't even speak the native language." Of all the things to be ashamed of! "Seon Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, works with an English tutor in the winter." You mean, the players were already trying to learn English?

By: Challahtronix

Challahtronix — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:48:19 -0800

to me this smacks of passive aggressive xenophobia gussied-up as well-meaning help; good luck proving it.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:49:21 -0800

Maintaining one's culture is of the utmost importance Nah.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:54:58 -0800

Cool Papa Bell has it, pretty much.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:32:25 -0800

Translation: "The male executives at our sponsors are complaining that they're having trouble hitting on our players." I don't think it's the language barrier that's the problem there.

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:39:19 -0800

They should all learn Esperanto. Like I was forced to by some misguided idealist 3rd grade teacher.