RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

For the holidays I'm doing a stopover in Warsaw.  So said that to the teachers.  But I knew that I had to think of it in Hanguel, but they didn't understand what I said, so when I checked it, it was 바르샤바.
Not even close.

Except that in Polish, it's pronounced [varˈʂava], so actually, the Korean pronunciation is a fair bit closer to the real thing than the English pronunciation.
I've noticed the same is true for a lot of Russian, German, and Dutch names as well.
English is horrible for mangling foreign city names. I mean... "The Hague"? Really? Really?
['sxraːvə(n)ˈɦaːɣə]. Or if you really must, at least [dɛn ˈɦaːx].

Summer is here and so my gym has a bunch of new patrons all signed up trying to get their beach bodies ready before their vacations.

It's so aggravating because the majority of them aren't taking it seriously and are getting in everyone else's way. I mean why dafuq would you sign up for a gym membership just so that you can sit on a machine for ten to fifteen minutes chatting or texting on your stupid phone? Go the **** outside if whatever conversation can't wait. Or just stop coming to the gym if you can't even be arsed to follow general gym etiquette.

Meanwhile, read the goddamn signs and put your ****** weights away. This goes double for those guys who overload the machines with way more ****** weight than they can actually handle so that they can stroke their egos with the 5% ROM that they can just barely manage to push or lift. Dude, you're NOT accomplishing anything with that. You're just going to hurt yourself and put yourself out of commission.

Stop using the benches as your personal lockers. There are actual lockers where you can keep your crap in.

Also, you can't actually reserve multiple machines for your own personal use. This isn't  your home, it isn't your equipment, and other members have just as much right to use those machines as you do. If you're not currently using it, others can, and you have to wait to use it later just like the rest of us.

AND ANOTHER THING, STOP USING THE MACHINES AS YOUR PERSONAL STRETCHING AREAS. GO TO A CORNER AND USE THE ****** WALL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES. DON'T BOTHER GIVING ME A LOOK WHEN I TELL YOU TO ****** MOVE SO THAT I CAN USE THE MACHINE WITHOUT CATCHING YOUR FINGERS IN THE GEARS, JUST ****** MOVE.

 

For the holidays I'm doing a stopover in Warsaw.  So said that to the teachers.  But I knew that I had to think of it in Hanguel, but they didn't understand what I said, so when I checked it, it was 바르샤바.
Not even close.

Except that in Polish, it's pronounced [varˈʂava], so actually, the Korean pronunciation is a fair bit closer to the real thing than the English pronunciation.
I've noticed the same is true for a lot of Russian, German, and Dutch names as well.
English is horrible for mangling foreign city names. I mean... "The Hague"? Really? Really?
['sxraːvə(n)ˈɦaːɣə]. Or if you really must, at least [dɛn ˈɦaːx].

Yep, I know the Korean is sometimes much closer to the real thing and was saying that my guessing was no where near close for Warsaw and hadn't thought about looking it up before opening my big gob.    The Germanic 'W' is a 'V' sound which Korean doesn't have.

...but with the Hanguel syllable construction it can be way off too.  I remember hearing a teacher had been to 상트페테르부르크 and it took a while to understand where he'd been.

...but with the Hanguel syllable construction it can be way off too.  I remember hearing a teacher had been to 상트페테르부르크 and it took a while to understand where he'd been.

Oh definitely no denying that.
The Hanguelization of my name looks more like somebody deep in the throes of a grand mal than an honest attempt at sounding it out. 

...but with the Hanguel syllable construction it can be way off too.  I remember hearing a teacher had been to 상트페테르부르크 and it took a while to understand where he'd been.

Oh definitely no denying that.
The Hanguelization of my name looks more like somebody deep in the throes of a grand mal than an honest attempt at sounding it out. 

While many languages, including English, butcher the pronunciation of words from other languages, I've never heard of English speakers correct me on the pronunciation of my own name.

On a lighter note, it's strange that the French or Germans, for example, can sound sexy or adorable when mispronouncing English words as a result of their native language's phonetic conflict. When Korean's use Konglish, it just sounds sh*t, pretty much 100% of the time.

Summer is here and so my gym has a bunch of new patrons all signed up trying to get their beach bodies ready before their vacations.

It's so aggravating because the majority of them aren't taking it seriously and are getting in everyone else's way. I mean why dafuq would you sign up for a gym membership just so that you can sit on a machine for ten to fifteen minutes chatting or texting on your stupid phone? Go the **** outside if whatever conversation can't wait. Or just stop coming to the gym if you can't even be arsed to follow general gym etiquette.

Meanwhile, read the goddamn signs and put your ****** weights away. This goes double for those guys who overload the machines with way more ****** weight than they can actually handle so that they can stroke their egos with the 5% ROM that they can just barely manage to push or lift. Dude, you're NOT accomplishing anything with that. You're just going to hurt yourself and put yourself out of commission.

Stop using the benches as your personal lockers. There are actual lockers where you can keep your crap in.

Also, you can't actually reserve multiple machines for your own personal use. This isn't  your home, it isn't your equipment, and other members have just as much right to use those machines as you do. If you're not currently using it, others can, and you have to wait to use it later just like the rest of us.

AND ANOTHER THING, STOP USING THE MACHINES AS YOUR PERSONAL STRETCHING AREAS. GO TO A CORNER AND USE THE ****** WALL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES. DON'T BOTHER GIVING ME A LOOK WHEN I TELL YOU TO ****** MOVE SO THAT I CAN USE THE MACHINE WITHOUT CATCHING YOUR FINGERS IN THE GEARS, JUST ****** MOVE.

 

This resonates deeply with me.

Almost every time there's some new guy (the women are, almost without exception, considerate and tidy at my gym) that comes in, he always falls into at least one of these categories:
- doesn't put anything away after using it and just leaves equipment everywhere
- uses one of the benches as his personal storage area for his phone and water
- is either excessively loud and dramatic when lifting, or drops his weights with a huge clang after every set, even though he's nowhere close to lifting to failure
- group of high school kids who aren't really doing anything except talking, taking up space and being in the way


Honestly half the time when I go to the gym, the dumbbells are just scattered all over the gym, so I'll take like five minutes and put them all back on the rack, and tidy the place up a little bit, just so it doesn't drive me crazy while I'm trying to exercise.

I do see a lot of inexperienced people come in and really try hard, too, though. So that's nice. Starting out at the gym is hard and scary for a lot of people, so like, I get that not everyone's going to be focusing on etiquette from the start but... yeah no, like a lot of it is literally just common decency and not being an an inconsiderate idiot.

Also yeah, waygook.org user Chinguetti - nobody reads the signs. I wish they would.

Not to mention the dumb things that go on in the locker rooms and showers - untidy, no sense of person space and many other annoying things.

 

Summer is here and so my gym has a bunch of new patrons all signed up trying to get their beach bodies ready before their vacations.

It's so aggravating because the majority of them aren't taking it seriously and are getting in everyone else's way. I mean why dafuq would you sign up for a gym membership just so that you can sit on a machine for ten to fifteen minutes chatting or texting on your stupid phone? Go the **** outside if whatever conversation can't wait. Or just stop coming to the gym if you can't even be arsed to follow general gym etiquette.

Meanwhile, read the goddamn signs and put your ****** weights away. This goes double for those guys who overload the machines with way more ****** weight than they can actually handle so that they can stroke their egos with the 5% ROM that they can just barely manage to push or lift. Dude, you're NOT accomplishing anything with that. You're just going to hurt yourself and put yourself out of commission.

Stop using the benches as your personal lockers. There are actual lockers where you can keep your crap in.

Also, you can't actually reserve multiple machines for your own personal use. This isn't  your home, it isn't your equipment, and other members have just as much right to use those machines as you do. If you're not currently using it, others can, and you have to wait to use it later just like the rest of us.

AND ANOTHER THING, STOP USING THE MACHINES AS YOUR PERSONAL STRETCHING AREAS. GO TO A CORNER AND USE THE ****** WALL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES. DON'T BOTHER GIVING ME A LOOK WHEN I TELL YOU TO ****** MOVE SO THAT I CAN USE THE MACHINE WITHOUT CATCHING YOUR FINGERS IN THE GEARS, JUST ****** MOVE.

 

This resonates deeply with me.

Almost every time there's some new guy (the women are, almost without exception, considerate and tidy at my gym) that comes in, he always falls into at least one of these categories:
- doesn't put anything away after using it and just leaves equipment everywhere
- uses one of the benches as his personal storage area for his phone and water
- is either excessively loud and dramatic when lifting, or drops his weights with a huge clang after every set, even though he's nowhere close to lifting to failure
- group of high school kids who aren't really doing anything except talking, taking up space and being in the way


Honestly half the time when I go to the gym, the dumbbells are just scattered all over the gym, so I'll take like five minutes and put them all back on the rack, and tidy the place up a little bit, just so it doesn't drive me crazy while I'm trying to exercise.

I do see a lot of inexperienced people come in and really try hard, too, though. So that's nice. Starting out at the gym is hard and scary for a lot of people, so like, I get that not everyone's going to be focusing on etiquette from the start but... yeah no, like a lot of it is literally just common decency and not being an an inconsiderate idiot.

Also yeah, waygook.org user Chinguetti - nobody reads the signs. I wish they would.

Summer is here and so my gym has a bunch of new patrons all signed up trying to get their beach bodies ready before their vacations.

It's so aggravating because the majority of them aren't taking it seriously and are getting in everyone else's way. I mean why dafuq would you sign up for a gym membership just so that you can sit on a machine for ten to fifteen minutes chatting or texting on your stupid phone? Go the **** outside if whatever conversation can't wait. Or just stop coming to the gym if you can't even be arsed to follow general gym etiquette.

Meanwhile, read the goddamn signs and put your ****** weights away. This goes double for those guys who overload the machines with way more ****** weight than they can actually handle so that they can stroke their egos with the 5% ROM that they can just barely manage to push or lift. Dude, you're NOT accomplishing anything with that. You're just going to hurt yourself and put yourself out of commission.

Stop using the benches as your personal lockers. There are actual lockers where you can keep your crap in.

Also, you can't actually reserve multiple machines for your own personal use. This isn't  your home, it isn't your equipment, and other members have just as much right to use those machines as you do. If you're not currently using it, others can, and you have to wait to use it later just like the rest of us.

AND ANOTHER THING, STOP USING THE MACHINES AS YOUR PERSONAL STRETCHING AREAS. GO TO A CORNER AND USE THE ****** WALL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES. DON'T BOTHER GIVING ME A LOOK WHEN I TELL YOU TO ****** MOVE SO THAT I CAN USE THE MACHINE WITHOUT CATCHING YOUR FINGERS IN THE GEARS, JUST ****** MOVE.

 

I'll never forget the king of gym douchebaggery. He was a short, bald pumped-up little ajjushi, who resembled humpty-dumpty.   
Instead of working out, he'd spend most of his time chatting to women who were attempting to work out. He'd try to convince these ladies to train with him. They'd set up mats in front of the largest mirror, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SQUAT RACK, and do  these weird aerobics.

Afterwards, he'd get some Paris Baguette pastries from his bag, give them out to his female squad and setup a picnic area in the very place they were working out... IN FRONT OF THE SQUAT RACK.

I really don't want to be "That guy" at the gym, policing everyone around, but unfortunately, that's just what you have to do if you're interested in getting through your workout within a reasonable timeframe. Luckily, most people won't put up a fight if you tell them to "GTF out the way" if they're lollygagging on the bench or if you tell them to take their crap off the equipment.

Luckily, most people won't put up a fight if you tell them to "GTF out the way" if they're lollygagging on the bench or if you tell them to take their crap off the equipment.

In my previous apartment gym there was this one guy in his 20s who, apart from the fact he'd have conversations with the tv, used to spend most of his time not exercising.  Like, he'd be on the running machine, then he'd put his feet either side of it, and then use his phone sometimes for up to 10 or 15 minutes with the belt still running.  What's the point of going to the gym if you're not going to work out?   Sometimes, I see people sitting on the mats using their phones or taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes and just not get it.  It's not like they're doing some strenuous workout and have to take time out.  That is one part (apart from Korean driving) of Korea I absolutely detest, which is being glued to their phones.  If you go to the gym, work the fukc out, don't do what you do all day anyway.  Put down the phone and do something else for a change.   

Luckily, most people won't put up a fight if you tell them to "GTF out the way" if they're lollygagging on the bench or if you tell them to take their crap off the equipment.

In my previous apartment gym there was this one guy in his 20s who, apart from the fact he'd have conversations with the tv, used to spend most of his time not exercising.  Like, he'd be on the running machine, then he'd put his feet either side of it, and then use his phone sometimes for up to 10 or 15 minutes with the belt still running.  What's the point of going to the gym if you're not going to work out?   Sometimes, I see people sitting on the mats using their phones or taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes and just not get it.  It's not like they're doing some strenuous workout and have to take time out.  That is one part (apart from Korean driving) of Korea I absolutely detest, which is being glued to their phones.  If you go to the gym, work the fukc out, don't do what you do all day anyway.  Put down the phone and do something else for a change.   

Maybe so they can get away from the wife/kids for a while while also impressing them by spending a whole hour 'working out' in the gym. Two birds with one stone.

I do see a lot of inexperienced people come in and really try hard, too, though. So that's nice. Starting out at the gym is hard and scary for a lot of people, so like, I get that not everyone's going to be focusing on etiquette from the start but... yeah no, like a lot of it is literally just common decency and not being an an inconsiderate idiot.

Yeah, absolutely no problem with newbies still learning the ropes, you can always tell which ones just don't know any better but are willing to learn (they tend to be a lot more conscientious of themselves and will look around at others a lot to help figure things out) vs. the ones who're there just to take the piss.

Aside from that, a lot of what's classified as gym etiquette can also be classified as general etiquette and can be applied to pretty much any social or community setting. Literally just common decency stuff, like you said. For these things, I don't give passes.

Luckily, the types of guys who ignore the rules, feel entitled to disregard everyone not themselves, and refuse to conform to at least minimum expectations usually don't last at my gym. I see them gone after anywhere between one to three months, either because they don't have the discipline to maintain a workout regimen, or because they get too many people calling them out and they don't want to pay to get "harassed" lol.

What's the point of going to the gym if you're not going to work out?   Sometimes, I see people sitting on the mats using their phones or taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes and just not get it.

This has become a lot more common with instagram and such. A lot of people will sign up for gym memberships but will only go to the gym for "photoshoots". Then they leave. Literally doing it for the 'gram.

I saw a guy spend the ENTIRE TIME he was at the gym talking on his phone out in the stairwell. He was there before I go there, I spent a good two hours in the gym, and he was still there when I left. Perfectly styled hair, wearing clean workout clothes... never stepped foot in the workout area. And he was just having a full-on nonsense conversation with his friend, it was nothing important. I later asked the trainer working that day if that guy ever worked out? Nah. Spent hours on his phone, then left and never came back.

But... at least he stayed out of the workout area, lol.

Not to mention the dumb things that go on in the locker rooms and showers - untidy, no sense of person space and many other annoying things.

I can't handle the showers. I went in once. Never again.

I'll never forget the king of gym douchebaggery. He was a short, bald pumped-up little ajjushi, who resembled humpty-dumpty.   

Gawd, this flashes me back to the morning King Adjusshi at my old gym. Had buffed out arms but saggy and flabby everything else, would strut around the gym trying to leer at women's crotches, and did nothing to hide the fact that this is what he was there to do. He's the main reason why I got into the habit of covering my lap with a towel whenever I need to sit or lay down to use a machine. He's not the only one who did it, he was just the most open and obvious about it.

Would literally spend half of his time at the gym just running around being a ****** pervert. I stopped going in the mornings because of mainly him since gym management refused to do anything about him.

I can't imagine anyone plopping themselves down in a gym to have themselves a picnic, though, wtf hahaha. I wonder if anyone ever called him out just for that. Food and drinks other than water aren't even allowed in the workout area in my gym.

Maybe so they can get away from the wife/kids for a while while also impressing them by spending a whole hour 'working out' in the gym. Two birds with one stone.

Ding ding ding.

Wife/gf/friends sign you up/pressure you into going to the gym. You basically go there, take a few shots, and spend the rest of the time watching something on Netflix.

I am not a gym rat, but if I ran a gym, I'd set up a special program specifically for the henpecked and lazy that was centered around "15 minutes of appearances and just enough to keep her off your back+45 minutes of you doing nothing"

On a lighter note, it's strange that the French or Germans, for example, can sound sexy or adorable when mispronouncing English words as a result of their native language's phonetic conflict. When Korean's use Konglish, it just sounds sh*t, pretty much 100% of the time.

Sometimes has to do with gender. Think your stereotypical OUTRAAAGGUUSS French accent and the French laugh. Sacre Bleu! Night and day with seductive French. Same goes for Asian accents. You can get a really velvety kind of one or you can get something really jarring. 

On a lighter note, it's strange that the French or Germans, for example, can sound sexy or adorable when mispronouncing English words as a result of their native language's phonetic conflict. When Korean's use Konglish, it just sounds sh*t, pretty much 100% of the time.

Sometimes has to do with gender. Think your stereotypical OUTRAAAGGUUSS French accent and the French laugh. Sacre Bleu! Night and day with seductive French. Same goes for Asian accents. You can get a really velvety kind of one or you can get something really jarring. 

That's true, I find the Arabic accent when females speak it to sound incredibly mellifluous, while men generally sound fairly unpleasant... unless you're Mishary Rashid Al Afasy.

Luckily, most people won't put up a fight if you tell them to "GTF out the way" if they're lollygagging on the bench or if you tell them to take their crap off the equipment.

In my previous apartment gym there was this one guy in his 20s who, apart from the fact he'd have conversations with the tv, used to spend most of his time not exercising.  Like, he'd be on the running machine, then he'd put his feet either side of it, and then use his phone sometimes for up to 10 or 15 minutes with the belt still running.  What's the point of going to the gym if you're not going to work out?   Sometimes, I see people sitting on the mats using their phones or taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes and just not get it.  It's not like they're doing some strenuous workout and have to take time out.  That is one part (apart from Korean driving) of Korea I absolutely detest, which is being glued to their phones.  If you go to the gym, work the fukc out, don't do what you do all day anyway.  Put down the phone and do something else for a change.   

Maybe so they can get away from the wife/kids for a while while also impressing them by spending a whole hour 'working out' in the gym. Two birds with one stone.

That's exactly what they're doing, hiding from the world for an hour or two. As long as they're sitting on some stupid piece of machinery that nobody should be using, like the leg-extension machine, then they're doing the rest of the gym a favour.

Luckily, most people won't put up a fight if you tell them to "GTF out the way" if they're lollygagging on the bench or if you tell them to take their crap off the equipment.

In my previous apartment gym there was this one guy in his 20s who, apart from the fact he'd have conversations with the tv, used to spend most of his time not exercising.  Like, he'd be on the running machine, then he'd put his feet either side of it, and then use his phone sometimes for up to 10 or 15 minutes with the belt still running.  What's the point of going to the gym if you're not going to work out?   Sometimes, I see people sitting on the mats using their phones or taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes and just not get it.  It's not like they're doing some strenuous workout and have to take time out.  That is one part (apart from Korean driving) of Korea I absolutely detest, which is being glued to their phones.  If you go to the gym, work the fukc out, don't do what you do all day anyway.  Put down the phone and do something else for a change.   

Maybe so they can get away from the wife/kids for a while while also impressing them by spending a whole hour 'working out' in the gym. Two birds with one stone.

That's exactly what they're doing, hiding from the world for an hour or two. As long as they're sitting on some stupid piece of machinery that nobody should be using, like the leg-extension machine, then they're doing the rest of the gym a favour.

The leg-extension machine? Is that for shorthouses?

The leg-extension machine? Is that for shorthouses?

I believe it's the machine that people use when they're too much of a wuss to exercise this way:

Some moron had the brilliant idea of connecting the wall fans, in the English room, in the same circuit as the lights. This means that you can't turn on the fans unless the classroom is light up like the cosmetics section of a department store. It's a 30 degree sunny day and I'm struggling to ignore the natural common sense that it's completely unnecessary to turn on every light when so much natural light is already entering through the window.

That's exactly what they're doing, hiding from the world for an hour or two. As long as they're sitting on some stupid piece of machinery that nobody should be using, like the leg-extension machine, then they're doing the rest of the gym a favour.

What is with all the hate for leg extension machines, lol?

The leg-extension machine? Is that for shorthouses?

I believe it's the machine that people use when they're too much of a wuss to exercise this way:

It's the machine you use when you're looking to injure yourself by doing a completely unnatural motion.

Kyndo, I think you're confusing the Leg-Extension machine with the Leg Press.