Language school blogger fired after boss confuses homophones with homophobes and accuses him of 'promoting gay agenda'

Tim Torkildson wrote an article explaining what a homophone is as part of his job at a private language school in Utah



But his boss thought he was writing about homosexuality and sacked him

'Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality,' Clarke Woodger allegedly complained



Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings such as be and bee

Woodger denied claims and said decision was not to do with homosexuality



A blogger for a school in Utah has lost his job after he wrote a post explaining what a homophone is and his boss accused him of promoting a gay agenda.



Until his recent dismissal, Tim Torkildson worked as a social media strategist for the Nomen Global Language Center in Provo, a private language school which aims to help students with their English.



One of Torkildon’s tasks was writing about the English language and his last post had focused on explaining what homophones are.

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Tim Torkildson, right, wrote an article explaining what a homophone is, but that didn't stop his boss at the Nomen Global Language Center in Provo, Utah, Clarke Woodger, left, from sacking him

Language: An cached version of the offending blog which allegedly got teacher Tim Torkildson fired

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings such as be and bee, through and threw, which and witch.



When Torkildson’s boss, and the school’s owner, Clarke Woodger read the article he called him into his office and told him he was fired.

‘Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality,’ Woodger complained, according to Torkildson, who posted their exchange on his blog.



He also claims that Woodger told him that the only job he would ever succeed in would be 'something clerical', where he would be 'closely supervised and have immediate goals at all times.'

Torkildson said that while he understood that the word’s 'homo' prefix might cause controversy, but he said that the explanation he had given had been 'straightforward' and something that those in the early stages of learning English needed to know.

Video courtesy of The Daily English Show



Torkildson included this helpful diagram on his blog to help explain what homophones are

The homophones explanation has since been removed from the language school’s website.

A cached version, however, was entitled Help With Homophones #1 and began: 'In English a homophone is a word that has several different meanings and spellings, but always sounds the same.

'The best way to learn these tricky words is to memorize them little by little. Today we will begin with homophones that start with the letter A: Ad is an advertisement. Add is a mathematical function.

'Ail is to be sick. Ale is an alcoholic beverage. Aye means yes. Eye is what you see with.'

Torkildson told MailOnline he began working for the language school in April and was there part-time for 30 hours a week. His blog was written on July 2 and he left the firm nine days later.



He had previously worked as a news director at several Midwestern radio stations - and as a circus clown for 35 years.

The Nomen Global Language Center in Provo, Utah, is a private language school which aims to help students with their English Head office: The headquarters of the Nomen Global Language Centers in Provo, Utah

When asked how he felt about the incident, he replied by quoting the Italian adventure novelist Rafael Sabatini: 'He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.'



Woodger has denied Torkildson's claims and says his decision to sack him had nothing to do with homosexuality.



He told the Salt Lake Tribune that Torkildson’s recent blog postings had begun to 'go off on tangents' and had become confusing and sometimes offensive.

