English name
Most Korean students who study English take on an English name. It's a good laugh for them, and it saves us a lot of trouble because their real names are hard to pronounce.

Once one of my Korean friends mentioned that his English name used to be "Daniel." We all had a laugh and I said "Okay, I'm going to call you Daniel from now on."

He replied, "No, never Daniel."

To which I said, "Okay, Never Daniel."

Of course he hated the name, which for a short time was expanded to Not Never Daniel and then back down to Never Daniel.

Last August he was on live TV and something naughty happened. You can conveniently watch it online here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX8AuyjDAw4

Never Daniel is the guy with the green and red mohawk and the Clash shirt with the Rising Sun motif. At the end of the video, two of the guys do the full monty on national live television. It was broadcast to the entire nation for about five seconds. Those guys ended up spending time in prison, and the others were all afraid for their lives. Never Daniel was singled out because they thought his shirt was a sign of support for Imperial Japan, which is about as smart as wearing a swastika in England. So he cut off the mohawk, dyed his hair black, wore thick glasses, and dressed in normal clothes.

I saw him later in the same park, dressed in his normal clothes. He came over to me with a sad look on his face. "Remember me?" he said, taking off his glasses so I could see his face. "It's me--Never Daniel." It was heartbreaking.

Anyway, he's back to normal again now, if you can call that normal.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Tue 23 May 2006, 10:25, Reply)