Seriously, Tim Torkildson was fired for this…
A social media specialist for a Utah language school that teaches English to non-native speakers says he was fired for writing a blog post about homophones—words that sound the same, but carry different meanings—because his boss was afraid readers would think it was about “gay sex.”
It seems too ridiculous to believe, but Torkildson’s former employer confirmed the incident of homophonia actually happened…
Torkildson disagrees. He wrote that homophones are “one of the first subjects tackled when teaching ESL,” and said his piece about them was very straightforward. The Tribune points out the Nomen blog published another post on the topic in 2011, apparently without incident.
Torklinson recalls this incident in his personal blog…
A homophone, in case you do not know, is a word that has a different meaning for each different spelling, but always sounds the same; such as “be”, “bee”, and “Bea”. There are hundreds of these in the English language, and it is one of the first subjects tackled when teaching ESL. It is a subject that has been taught and discussed with absolutely no controversy for well over a hundred years.
Until now . . .
This week I was fired for writing a blog about homophones for an educational website.
“I’m letting you go because I can’t trust you” said Clarke Woodger, my boss and the owner of Nomen Global Language Center. “This blog about homophones was the last straw. Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality.”
I said nothing, stunned into silence.
“I had to look up the word” he continued, “because I didn’t know what the hell you were talking about. We don’t teach this kind of advanced stuff to our students, and it’s extremely inappropriate. Can you have your desk cleaned out by eleven this morning? I’ll have your check ready.”
Good Lord, that boss is a real maroon… just can’t make this stuff up…
It’s moran, you fucking retard.
Wowzer – and this Clarke Woodger guy is in charge of children’s education. Imma guess puns and innuendo are off limits there too. Imma also guess this is an older white guy who got promoted up out of jobs he couldn’t handle…
Yep even I, no linguist, have heard what homophones are. And I would think his website is sorta talking to members of his community (of language teachers). And this guy was his boss? what, he is a 5th level high priest of Moroni who went as a youngster to 3 different European places – speaking crappily all the while, – to whip up converts to Moronism, so that made him qualified to run a damn language school, huh?
Maybe we need a new term: “homeophone” two words that sound related/similar but really aren’t. Example: “homophone” and “homophobe”.
For some linguists’ take on all this, see Language Log.
Not to blurt out too many spoilers, but here’s a taste of how funny the post and the comments are.
“what will [foreign students] do when they … are confronted with homogenization, homomorphisms, homotopy, Homo sapiens, or (FSM help us) Homo erectus?”
“Since intelligent people are not a protected group under U.S. employment law, Mr. Woodger was apparently on solid legal ground in firing Torkildson.”
Should I comment here? Probably not because I’ll be misconstrued.
I learned about homophones in first grade on the east coast. It was kind of important so we could understand all the different spellings of words that sounded the same.
On the other hand, when I moved to Texas in 1990, I was shocked when I went to the grocery store, or heard ads for grocery stores on the TV or radio, that sold “homo milk”. It’s just homogenized, and I have never been to a store where the milk was not pateurized or homogenized, so I don’t understand why they didn’t just call it plain old milk. Nobody thought that sounded queer, except me. 24 years later, it still makes me laugh. I never had the nerve to ask if homo milk was milk from homo cows, or milk for homo humans, or both.
I hope the Mormons prepare their Texas missionaries for that little bit of culture shock before they set them loose in the Lone Star State.
maroon: A term of derision often uttered by Bugs Bunny when referring to an interaction with a dopey adversary. It is a mispronunciation of the word “Moron”
@quixote:
reminds me of a Ruben Bolling cartoon from back in the day about the Australopithecus at a party.
“Not that I’m a Homo erectus or anything …”