Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Red pen... of doom?

I've been flip-flopping between names for this blog. It's still in its early stages, although people in my class read up on my tips and things for PGCE, so I probably should avoid changing its name.

Red Pen of Doom - it sounded catchy, and I wanted to reference the ultimate feeling of power held by the teacher, as she marks work, deciding the fate of her students. Tongue in cheek, of course. Hyperbole. And stuff.

Then I thought, hey - if I'm going off on an adventure, and writing about how I'm trying to make my dream come true, it's probably not a good idea to be talking about doom, is it?

Thus, Ramblings in Red Ink. Similar enough to the old one to keep some continuity, but a little less dramatic. Not catchy enough, though. Do I want to be stuck with this mediocre name for the next few years of teaching?

And then I remembered something I'd read years ago. I came across it in a K-blog last week.

Traditionally in Korea, the names of the deceased were recorded in the registry in red ink. Thus, apparently if you write a living person's name in red ink, you are expressing a wish that they die, and 'cursing' them or shortening their life. This tradition seems to be falling away, as young Koreans no longer seem to observe it. 

But I thought I should probably change the name of this blog again, moving completely away from the red pen thing.

So I tried 'Keopi Kat in Korea' but.... Ugh. It's just not me, and I would have to retrospectively change any and all links to my blog from before the change, and...

You know what? If the tradition says that red ink spells out doom and gloom, then Red Pen of Doom is perfectly appropriate after all.

So, that's my waffling for today - an explanation of the name of this blog and a little Korean culture to snack on.

Still no sign of the interview email.

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