Just noticed Myung-Bo Hong's Jersey reads "Bo" in this video: http://mlsnet.com/content/03/multimedia/0405ruiz.rm What utter ignorance. I wouldn't take that shite if I was him.
i noticed that as well. i'm not sure what ethnocentric moron at the main office came up with that one but he needs to be beaten do death with sticks.
I don't think they're THAT stupid to not knowingly put "Bo". Perhaps they did that on purpose? Just like in K-league, they put "Denis" instead of "Laktinov" so that fans can easily remember.
Hey ladies, instead of crying about it, try giving it some thought. The Galaxy players call him "Bo". That could be one reason. If Hong really wanted "Hong" on his back, I'm sure they would've obliged. It's like Ichiro Suzuki on the Mariners. He has Ichiro on his back. Those bastards.
I would imagine there was some discussion about the name issue between the team management and Hong. If he felt that the use of "Bo" was disrespectful, then surely he would not have approved its use on his jersey. Does anyone have any evidence to the contrary?
man..... i know that if i were in MLS and they put "Joe" instead of "Lesher" on the back of my jersey without consulting me, i'd be kinda mad. but maybe this is what Hong Myung-Bo wanted. i mean hell, Ezra Hendrickson has "Ezra" on the back of his jersey. so lets not make ussumptions that this was done because of some ignorant person in the front office before knowing all the facts.
I'm not saying "Bo" is disrespectful, but Korean culture places importance on the family name, and as a Korean, it's odd for me to see anything other than the family name displayed on Hong's jersey. To me, using a first name comes off as disrespectful, but things are different here. It does come off as ignorant, though...I must agree...
i'll add again.... maybe it was HIS choice.... like i said before, ezra hendrickson has EZRA on his jersey. I'm sure the LA organization would have talked to Hong and asked him what he prefers. if the name "Bo" is still on his jersey this saturday, then he must not care, cuase if he wanted it changed, believe you me, it'd be changed. in a heart beat.
really not a big deal. Sigi Schmid refers to Hong as "Bo" anyway. I'm sure Hong could read English and see what's on his back. Koreans could clear up all the confusion if they all wrote their names like the AP standard for South Korean names, which is Last First1-first2. Hong Myung-bo. not "Hong Myung Bo" or "Hong Myung-Bo." it's so funny hearing people call Kim Jong-il, "Kim Il." Actually though, the AP standard for North Korean names is different, you're supposed to write it like three separate words. Why? I don't know.
Exactly. There isn't the same level of respect for elders in the US as there is in Korea. Hong is in the US now so he'll have to get accustomed to the US culture. He even said that this is one of the things that he has to get used to in the latest "KoreAm" magazine. If you check out that issue it has Hong on the cover and a nice article on his adjustments to the US. There it also mentions how he's simply referred to as "Bo" by his teammates.
Well, no need to worry, folks. Starting next game, Hong will have a new name on his jersey: "He Hate Me".
Maybe it's time Americans started recognizing other cultures and "getting accustomed" to them as well.
I think Bo Belinsky of the Angels and Bo Jackson of the Raiders had "Belynski" and "Jackson" on their jerseys.
Would you like the younger players on the team to call him "hyung" then? Get accustomed? If this were in Korea and some American came to play for a K-League team, I think you'd expect the American to get accustomed to the culture and certain customs that we Koreans have. However, a Korean going to America to play, you want the guys who were there first to change just for one man? Very logical thinking. Maybe those World Rivalry threads were right. We ARE too sensitive!
I believe MLS allows the players to choose what they want as their name on the jersey. Not that MLS may or may not try to influence this for marketing and crowd/press identification purposes but it's ultimately the players choice. The KC Wizards have "Preki" on his jersey even though his true family last name is Radosavljevic. Zimbabwe International Vitalis (Digital) Takawira I believe but Digital on the back of his uniform in KC even though it was a knickname.
So get accustomed was a bad word choice, obviously. What I'm getting at is sometimes Americans are just to ethnocentric for their own good. That's all I have to say on this subject, since it's obviously getting way too heated.
This topic should not be getting heated. The bottom line is that unless someone can provide some support that the name "Bo" on a jersey goes contrary to Hong's wishes, then we can only assume that he has approved the name.
americans are ethnocentric?? everday i see people from a myriad of different cultures all getting along and lving together and respecting thier differences. latins, asians, arabs, people from the caribbean, europeans, just plain white people, all together. im sure if i went to korea i would see all koreans all living one culture. now which country ahs more exposure to other cultures?
Agreed. I'm just saying, don't jump to conclusions, saying that Hong is being disrespected when you don't know for fact why Bo is on his back.
"plain white people"? lol. what's that? I think it's quite revealing that people with caucasian features can just be "white" in this country and that anything "white" is considered the default while everything else is "the other". As far as "Bo", Hong must have agreed to it now that I think about it, but I think it still ends up contributing to some people's confusion as to understanding Korean names.
nyah nyah nyah nyah plain white people, plain white people man, i should have given this ish up for lent or something... huevones
FWIW, I think this type of confusion is pretty common when America and Confucian countries like Korea interract. These are sweeping generalizations, of course, but Korea, in part because of Confucian influences, puts greater emphasis on respect than we do, because many relationships are defined in terms of things like teacher/student, father/son, elder/junior, etc. By contrast, American society, given our history, strives to be egalitarian (in theory anyway), so we place more emphasis on being equals and thus camaraderie and being casual with people is more important than formality and respect -- and why they might have used Bo instead of his family name. Like I said, it's a sweeping generalization and I'm not trying to say one way is better than another, I just think these kinds of cultural differences are interesting. My girlfriend actually works for a company that trains businesses to understand cultural differences in both business interactions and in adjusting to overseas relocations. Having said that, who knows, it may just be a screw-up by the shirt printer (given the last name confusion thing) that they couldn't correct in time. We'll see this week.