[Hot Story at Students' Community] This is a short summary of the funnist posting on SNU students' online community.

What's in a name? That Which We Call a Professor
- Thoghts on Good_Evening_Professor.jpg

We all have one or two embarrassing moments in our lives which we wish we could erase or take back. You may have been talking ill about someone behind their back, for example, and then realized they had been listening from the start. A similar situation has been talked about for a long time by SNU students, and the issue might be hard to understand at first for foreigners.

A posting that received more than a hundred approval recommendations and nearly 10,000 hits is a picture of the screen of an iPhone operating a text message application. The picture is rather fuzzy and blurry and at the top of the picture, there is the heading 'HUFS' Professor Huh Sung Hwe', HUFS being the acronym of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

On the right hand side, the texts of the student are shown in green, and on the left hand side a single text message of the professor.

The first text is quite long, asking carefully and politely the following:"Good evening professor, My name is A (the name is covered with white blotches) and I am a senior. Today I made a presentation in class and I uploaded the PPT file on the e-class. I was just wondering whether I had to upload the presentation itself?".

The picture shows the professor promptly and succinctly replying,"No need for the presentation".

Then the student replies again in a courteous manner"Oh, Ok ^^ Thank you very much. Next week is Makka Bucha day so I'll see you the week after sir, ^_^." Up until this point, the text messages are just another conversation between a professor and an eager student.

Then the student attempts to text to his friend but mistakenly sends the text to the professor,"Huh Sung Hwe says no need to upload presentation", and this text is followed up by"I'm so sorry Sir.;;;;"

The tag below the picture says"YOU!! F!!", meaning the student will probably receive a F grade in that class.

If you're failing to grasp what is so wrong about this incident, then you are not yet fully aware of Korean culture yet. If that's the case, then you might be wondering why this picture has become such a sensation.

Koreans and those familiar with Korean or Confucian culture would feel the combined emotions of hilarity and heart-wrenching sympathy; the weak-hearted may gasp in anguish and be sincerely concerned for the student.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with this culture, the rudeness of the student's text is the equivalent of saying something along the lines of"the arrogant and condescending Huh told me to forget about the presentation".

Not quite cursing and swearing, but definitely something you wouldn't want to be caught saying to the professor nonetheless.

In Korean culture, teachers and professors are usually treated with the utmost respect. There is even a traditional proverb saying that"Teachers, fathers, and emperors are one." Moreover, calling people by their respective positions along with their names is an important aspect of Korean culture, and it is considered extremely rude and disrespectful to not only address but also talk about a professor omitting the title 'professor'.

In this picture, this student has committed the initial offence of talking to his friends about the professor without including his title, and made the situation horrendously worse by sending the text to the professor himself, in effect confessing his impertinence. The student's embarrassment and dismay is condensed in the ensuing apology.

This posting reminded a lot of people of their own similar previous experiences of missent texts and some students left comments on the posting.

One student shared the story of sending an equally disrespectful text intended for his friend, but received by the professor. When the professor entered the classroom he re-dialed the number on the text, with the objective of finding the culprit. The phone rang, and as the startled student answered the phone in despair, the professor pointed to the student and said,"So it was you! I'll make a quick note of this."

Other comments included other anecdotes such as getting fired as a result of a text bad-mouthing the boss being mistakenly sent to the boss. One story, though irrelevant to the uniqueness of Korean culture, talked about how after a gruelingly disappointing blind date the guy sent an enraged curse-filled text to the girl instead of the guilty match-maker.

Another interesting point was the fact that SNU students were incredibly grammar and spelling conscious. The students were relentless in condemning others who carelessly made blatant spelling mistakes while using the Korean language and showed support when others pointed out and corrected misspelled words or incorrect phrases. This was an interesting phenomenon that recurred regardless of the seriousness of the subject.

Summarized by YU Minseok, SNU English Editor, brits@snu.ac.kr   ?