August 15th marks the day in 1945 that Japan was thrown off the Korean peninsula after colonizing it for 35 years. It also marks the day that South Korea was formed as the Republic of Korea  in 1948. Slate Magazine’s pictures of the day are all about Korea. Check it out.  Pictures from then and now.

I get a kick out of the packaging I find sometimes here in Korea. Many times its completely in Korean and I have to translate what they’re selling to see if it’s what I’m looking for. Other times, there’s English to help me decide if the product is right for me.

Today I bought a self-retracting leash for my dog, you know the kind – there’s a spring that rolls up the leash when she’s close and let’s it spool out when she wants some freedom. It’s convenient to be able to reel her in when cars come since the sidewalks are nonexistent in many places here.

Anyway, the leash packaging was pretty funny. It was the only one they had, so regardless of their poor copywriting I was going to buy it. The first thing I saw was the stars and bold print announcing that this was a “High Class Product.” I knew I’d find gold if I looked further. Sure enough, the back had copious English descriptions of why it was so high class.

“Stainless steel is better than normal and has powerful and tenacity elasticity.”

I’m not sure what “normal” spring is made of, but this one sounded good. It gets better.

“The stainless steel spring never rust, so it’s to use long turm…”

I like long turm. You can never find enough long turm stuff out there, so I had to snap this one up. But if that isn’t enough to sell you, this clinches it:

“This products got TUV from Germany, so we can guarantee good quality.”

I have no idea what TUV is, but since it comes from Germany, its got to be good. Koreans have great respect for German engineering and a keen eye for Germanic descent. I am sometimes asked if I’m German, and when I tell them I am part German, they always follow up with “good engineer, Germany peoples.” Whatever the case, it makes for good marketing and the leash folks unleashed it here.

“This products used to natural rubber, so it’s very strong protect from all kinds of demege.”

Love the spelling and grammar. I just wonder who they write it for. Each English line has its corresponding Korean marketing blurb above it, so they’re not relying on these lines to sell locally. I swear there’s an enormous market for proof readers here. There ought to be a way I could tie in my German heritage with it somehow thereby guaranteeing them good quality.