Tuesday, September 08, 2015

do not munch on this carpet

As if it weren't already difficult enough to find a decent edge seat on the subway during rush hour, we passengers now have a new obstacle to deal with: the PINK CARPET.


The Korean-language sign on the floor says, roughly, "Pink carpet: the space for tomorrow's heroes." The icons on the wall above and behind the edge seat show you who those heroes are: the pregnant, the injured, and those with rug rats.


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4 comments:

Charles said...

I'm pretty sure the phrase "tomorrow's heroes" refers specifically to the rug rats being carried in fetal form by expectant mothers, not necessarily to the injured or even the expectant mothers themselves.

(Still not sure about "heroes" for 주인공, but I can't really think of a better alternative. "Protagonists" sounds too literary. "Leaders" sounds better, and the phrase "tomorrow's leaders" is a common one, but again, not quite sure.)

Kevin Kim said...

Yeah, I was hesitant to say "heroes" as well, mainly because my understanding of "주인공" is that you use it when you're talking about, say, the main subject of a photo or the person being feted at a party—neither of which is a particularly heroic concept; a "주인공" is more like "the person we're focusing on." But "hero" was clunky Google's take on "주인공," and I rolled with it.

I also agree, given that the sign on the wall refers to "임산부," that "tomorrow's heroes" are most likely still in utero, but those three icons, the holy trinity of preggy-crip-mom, placed right there in the pink zone, throw that notion off a bit. All in all, I'd say the zone-makers need to work on their messaging.

Charles said...

"All in all, I'd say the zone-makers need to work on their messaging."

True, but at least they're making an effort, I guess?

Although I wonder if a more effective effort might not be to rig up seats to deliver mild shocks if the wrong person sits in a given seat. At the very least, it would be entertaining.

Kevin Kim said...

Dzzzt. "You are not a future leader."