Chivalry is dead
Who taught : Alex and Sangeetha
Chivalry is dead? (source: http://www.motifake.com/)
It is inevitable to experience so many different things by moving to another country. What is the most difficult thing to live in America as a Korean? I would say, it is English, English and English.
1. First of all, English itself is hard to master. Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Slangs, Listening… You name it. There are so many things to continuously practice and it is never ending.
2. And, because of English, it is hard to make American friends. Let’s face it! It is really hard to have a conversation for a long time in just English if you cannot listen and speak fast enough. Honestly, I used to have a headache after a long party with my American friends or a long conference call with customers. This then can definitely affect your work or study.
3. Due to the reason number 2, it is hard to learn new cultures. This creates a vicious circle. If you do not have many American friends, then you usually stay with people who came from the same country you are from. In my case, it is Korea. Then, you lose your chance to learn new cultures and, thus, you feel awkward to be surrounded by American people. As a result, your English cannot get better at all and you do not have any American friends and you do not learn American cultures.
Now, what is the solution? Well, there is only one thing I can say here. WHEN IN ROME! You should really be proactive to make as many American friends as possible and learn new cultures from them. You should also be honest. If you do not understand what they are saying, feel free to ask them. They will help you out.
Speaking of culture… When Jessy and I first moved here, she and I often took a walk after dinner. Talking about trees, animals and houses, we had fun. (FYI, there are squirrels, deer, and rabbits all over here.) But, something bad also happened. š She saw a guy opening a car door for a lady. I tried to ignore it. (As far as I know, guys in Korea usually do not do that for a lady.) But, she was like this is the time I need to say something. “Hey.. look at that. Don’t you think you need to do that for me? You never done that,” said she. Oh great….
Last Saturday, Jessy and I had lunch with Alex and Sangeetha. After lunch, the server came with checks. Sangeetha said, “You can give them to the guys.” Following it, Alex said, “I guess chivalry is not dead.” I did not get it.
So, chivalry itself refers to the medieval institution of knighthood. And it is often associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honor and of courtly love. For your better understanding, here are the examples of chivalry.
1. Open a car door for a lady or open a door of any place like a mall for a lady.
2. Pay for a lady’s meal
Now, if it is dead, it of course means no one would do it any more. Researching about this expression, I found a lot of arguments about whether chivalry is really dead or not on the Internet. There are some people who say women killed it because of feminism movement. What do you think? Is chivalry really dead? I guess it is a very subjective matter to answer, though. Let me put it this way then? Is chivalry dead in your marriage? Hope not!
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Terry, I’m curious about “was like” syntex you wrote in serveral postings.
You wrote above “She was like this is the time I need to say something”,
Does “like” can be replaced by “thinking”? I’m not familar to that sentence , so would you enlighten me by telling me what you tried to express with that?
Byung, Sorry for late response! I have considered this time of the year as my vacation from everything. š But, I will get back to my routine from next Monday.
Good catch! I have not even noticed that I use that one a lot. š That is one of the expressions so many people are using these days when they speak. I wanted my posts to be more conversational so that I have used it very often. In my opinion, it is just an expression similar to “you know.” I am sure you have heard people use “you know” in the middle of conversations. It does not mean really a lot. Rather, it is sort of connecting words between words or sentences. When they cannot properly find a word or an expression, they use it. In fact, if you carefully hear teenagers’ conversations, you will definitely hear that there are so many “like”s in they conversations. One time, I had a chance to have a conversation with an old couple and they were so surprised how many times young people use the word “like” in the middle of conversations. So, try to go to a coffee shop around your house and sit besides young people. Now, count how many times they are using expressions “I am like” or “She is like” or “He is like” or just the word “like.” I bet it will be endless. This is another thing I think very interesting as a matter of fact. There are so many different patterns of speaking English based on where they are and how old they are. Again, it is very fun to learn a new language. I love it.
Jessy, send Terry to South America! He will see that not only is chivalry not dead, it is very much alive! It’s awkward at first, but then you get used to it and it’s really nice š
Peer pressure! I am sure Juan is the man of Chivalry.