Punctuation

The topic about language and punctuation came up during a brunch session with friends. She has two children at 11 and 7 studying in Danish public school. On a side note: personally, I don't think Danish public school possess high education quality, I was surprised to discover that there's no nation wide examination to determine the academic results of the students at all!

Of course nationwide exam is not the single guideline to having a good public school but how do further higher education organizations determine the standards of the student before entering college or university? Is there no common baseline? It all puzzles me.

Anyway, recently, it is to my friend's great shock to discover that apparently punctuation usage has been changed creatively to an absolute wrong direction, for example:-

Teacher in school wrote this:-
"Dear parents! We are hosting an event in school! Please join us in this wonderful event!"

or a text message between parents:-
"Hi! I assume you'll be picking up the kids! Just want to confirm with you! Have a nice day!"

Notice all the exclamation marks? Since when does exclamation marks replace full stop in a sentence? Fundamental mistake such as this, especially if it's made by a school teacher, is really worrying. What is becoming to the next generation? Punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. I sincerely hope that these are just handful isolated cases of ignorance or human error.

Language is constantly evolving but if the basic fundamental is changing (for better or worse) without synchronization or consensus from other users, what will become of the language in future? If full stop is going to be 'replaced' by exclamation mark, I'm afraid my world will be very different too.

Korean BBQ Pork

Korean BBQ pork / Daeji Bulgogi

450g thinly sliced pork

3 tbsp soy say

2 tbsp minced garlic

½ tbsp freshly minced ginger

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste)

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp cooking oil (for pan frying)

Korean BBQ Pork

Instructions:-

1. Combine all the ingredients except pork and cooking oil, stir well to make marinating base.

2. Add pork and marinate for 30 - 60 minutes. I guess overnight marinate won't harm but it's not necessary.

3. Turn heat to high and add cooking oil. When it's nearly smoky, add marinated pork and stir fry until cooked. I like mine a little charred, so I tend to keep the heat high and stir the pork around.

4. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds (or green onion) for garnish. Served with steamed rice.

Note: The recipe also tastes very good with chicken

Ever since I introduce this pork in my cooking, I find myself cooking it on a rather frequent basis. The taste lingers in my mind all the time. A very versatile recipe and one of the best home cook pork dish that can be ready in less than 5 minutes (minus the marinating time) which is perfect for weekday dinner meal; definitely a keeper :)