Did James get trolled?

[Genghis Pwn]

Lol, I was reading the commentary when I came across this part...



We're happy to know that at least you're out of this scam, but just to amplify your observations, Caroline, I'll give you here an example of how a person in another country was heavily affected by the irresponsible blatherings of one of these quacks. It happened in South Korea to a young man who wrote to ask me my opinion on advice he'd been given. I've tidied up the spelling and grammar a bit...


Hello Randi. I'm Korean, 20 years old. Sorry I don't speak English well. My future hope is to be painter artist and rock artist. I'm happy drawing pictures and play guitar and I'm study hard.
but...

Korean astrologer 'saju' told me I'll never gonna be painter artist... If I become rock artist I gonna die...

I so so sad... I was crying... Astrology is true? I'm despair...

I want your reply please...


I immediately told this young man to go with his ambitions, forget the fakers, and grab his dream. The advice he got is the default position, since most of those who want to become Andy Warhol or David Bowie probably won't make it that far. But, along the way, they'll get a lot of good experience and wisdom, as well as pure joy, that will serve them well. I have some advice for the Korean astrologer: get a job that really helps people. And try for some ethics while you're at it.



Hehehe, does anyone else think that letter might have been a joke?

[Pyrrho]

Originally posted by Genghis Pwn
Hehehe, does anyone else think that letter might have been a joke?
Who's to know? There's no shame in giving an honest response to what might be a legitimate letter. It's true that some people take advantage of the decency of other people, but that's not the fault of the decent person, unless they know for certain they're being fooled.

[Genghis Pwn]

Originally posted by Pyrrho

Who's to know? There's no shame in giving an honest response to what might be a legitimate letter. It's true that some people take advantage of the decency of other people, but that's not the fault of the decent person, unless they know for certain they're being fooled.

I just thought the letter was funny. It might be real. Who knows. Did it seem a little over the top to anyone else?

[arcticpenguin]

Originally posted by Genghis Pwn

I just thought the letter was funny. It might be real. Who knows. Did it seem a little over the top to anyone else?
I would not question your expertise in prevarication.

[BillyJoe]

Pretty sure it was agur. :D

[Genghis Pwn]

Originally posted by arcticpenguin

I would not question your expertise in prevarication.

lol.

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by BillyJoe
Pretty sure it was agur. :D
At least agur has found a promising career in punishing the United States with weather... because everyone knows if the US hadn't done some of those bad things we've done over the years, then we would have clear skys and sunshine all the time... which would lead to drought... wait a minute...

[Kimpatsu]

I don't think it was a troll. If you go to a seaside fortune teller in England, they'll give you some waffle about about meeting a tall, dark, handsome stranger and how you'll travel in the future. Here in Asia, however, fortune tellers are taken very seriously, and will tell you crap about how you're going to die soon, and should leave all your money to a raving prophet who lives in a tree house on the far side of the moon. And people believe this nonsense.

[Drifterman]

After being cursed to grade stacks of students' letters for English class, I am painfully aware that this kind of mangled diction is a common occurence.I'm despair. seems particularly typical.

[shanek]

Originally posted by Drifterman
After being cursed to grade stacks of students' letters for English class, I am painfully aware that this kind of mangled diction is a common occurence.I'm despair. seems particularly typical.

Hey, it's better than "Someone set up us the bomb!" or "All your base are belong to us." :D

[Drifterman]

And it's a shedload better than my feeble attempts at Mandarin. But correcting the same mistake by the same person 20 times in 10 consecutive essays gets more than a little irksome.

Strangely, I come to the JREF boards to get some respite from being a pedantic English teacher.