random sample

I was in my pronunciation class early this afternoon when I asked, out of the blue, whether anyone in the class had seen "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug."

Not a single person raised a hand.

I was floored. If that class counts as a more or less random sample of Koreans of moviegoing age (and let me tell you, Korean college kids do love going to the movies), then scoring a zero out of eighteen is a significant result. It makes me curious, too: I'd love to survey more classes and get a much larger sample size. I'd also like to find out how well "Smaug" did during its run in Korea. How much did it earn here?*

I suppose this means I'll have to hold back on using too many "Hobbit" references in class. No one will know who Radagast the Brown is, and only a few will recognize Bilbo. I was joking with a colleague, earlier today, about the fact that I'm walking around with a walking stick for a cane, but I can't do any Yoda impressions because none of these kids knows who the hell Yoda was. How sad. And thus the huge Kevin fades slowly but inexorably into irrelevancy.

---

*One stat, from early in the movie's run in Korea, is here.


_