Utah man fired after boss complains blog post about homophones made school sound gay
A social media strategist for a Utah school serving foreign students said he was fired
after his schools owner reprimanded him for the allegedly gay connotations of a blog
post concerning homophones, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.
People at this level of English may see the homo side and think it has something to
do with gay sex. the owner, Clarke Woodger, allegedly told Tim Torkildson while firing
him last week.
Torkildson reportedly was hired as a teacher at Nomen Global Language Center in
Provo this past April 1 before being reassigned to handle the schools social media.
Torkildson gave his account of the meeting with Woodger on his personal blog.8/8/2014 Utah man fired after boss complains blog post about homophones made school sound gay
Im letting you go because I cant trust you, Woodger allegedly said. This blog about
homophones was the last straw. Now our school is going to be associated with
homosexuality.
Woodger also allegedly complained that he didnt know what homophones words
that sound identical while having different meanings and spellings were, and that it
was the kind of advanced stuff Nomen did not teach its students. He also accused
Torkildson of not being reliable enough to continue working for the school.
I never have any idea what youre going to do next. I cant run my business that way,
Woodger said, according to Torkildson. Youd probably make a great college professor,
but since you dont have a degree youll never get that kind of work. I would advise you
to try something clerical, where youll be closely supervised and have immediate goals
at all times. Thats the only kind of job youll ever succeed at.
Woodger denied to the Tribune that his concern over Torkildsons work centered on
homosexuality, but that Torkildson would go off on confusing and sometimes offensive
tangents in his posts for the school. The post on homophones was removed from the
schools website.
Nomen did not return a call seeking confirmation of Torkildsons account of his final
