I've got some old asks in my inbox about BTS's military service that I haven't gotten around to answering yet, and I was meaning to reply to them individually but since it seems like there will be ~discourse~ brought on by today's K-media articles I'll just quickly preemptively address:
1. It was always a matter of when and how(*), and not whether.
(*As in, will they enlist one by one/in groups or all at the same time.)
2. Special exemption is unrealistic. I've said it before: even if there were ways to avoid conscription, the boys themselves would want to serve on active duty, because -
3. Exemption will act as a debt. The boys will have to be on guard for the rest of their lives to police their own actions and words, because the Korean public can turn their backs in a snap if anything were to happen and having been exempted will come back to bite them. (Not saying I don't trust them to lead exemplary lives; it's just that fame is fickle and no one can guarantee the future.)
+) Related previous posts: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4
my favorite part of concerts is when the band plays a song everyone knows so everyoneās singing along all out of tune but then the singer stops singing and they point the mic at the crowd and u just hear everyone in the crowd singing the words to the music and u see the smiles on the band membersā faces bc they know people care about their music and everyoneās just so happy who cares about anything else
I've got some old asks in my inbox about BTS's military service that I haven't gotten around to answering yet, and I was meaning to reply to them individually but since it seems like there will be ~discourse~ brought on by today's K-media articles I'll just quickly preemptively address:
1. It was always a matter of when and how(*), and not whether.
(*As in, will they enlist one by one/in groups or all at the same time.)
2. Special exemption is unrealistic. I've said it before: even if there were ways to avoid conscription, the boys themselves would want to serve on active duty, because -
3. Exemption will act as a debt. The boys will have to be on guard for the rest of their lives to police their own actions and words, because the Korean public can turn their backs in a snap if anything were to happen and having been exempted will come back to bite them. (Not saying I don't trust them to lead exemplary lives; it's just that fame is fickle and no one can guarantee the future.)
+) Related previous posts: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4
bestie i think jinkook could actually be boyfriends tooš³
(link) I canāt tell if youāre being sarcastic or not, so Iām not sure how to respond to this. Are you asking if JK really did almost say ģ¬ė³“/yeobo/ and ėØģ¹/namchin/ before he caught himself? Because if youāve been reading my blog, youāll knowĀ that I generally tend to disregard things that werenāt enunciated clearly asĀ āmomentsā orĀ āproofā or whatever.Ā
Hi, thanks for giving us some cultural background on a lot of things. On the topic or Biological Brothers, do the way they refer to each other indicate they might see each other as brothers at all? As in real brothers? Because from my understanding of the terms hyung and dongsaeng, it seems like itās just a way of indicating close older and younger male I know... sorry if this question is confusing, I tend not to believe this but yeah...
Hello! Do you meanĀ āreal brothersā as in biological siblings?Ā Then no, BTS donāt see each other asĀ āreal brothersā no matter what they call each other, because theyāre just not. They literally canāt be, they donāt share the same parents.Ā
Youāre correct that the terms hyung and dongsaeng only ever mean male acquaintances/friends who are old/young enough to be your older/younger brother. Koreans use forms of address for family members extremely liberally. Iām no expert in socio- or ethnolinguistics, but IMO there are two factors that contribute to this.Ā
First, weāve been (or believed we were lol) a monoethnic society for thousands of years, so in our collective subconscious we're one huge extended family. Since everyone is family with each other, the distinction in forms of address is created only by age difference - i.e. what family member is that person old enough to be in relation to myself?Ā
Secondly, we are a collectivist society thatās extremely family-oriented. Regarding someone in terms ofĀ family is our way of bridging the emotional distance with others that are not family. Especially because of the strict age hierarchy, using familial forms of address is an easy way to express emotional closeness with someone who is not your age without violating the rules of that hierarchal system.Ā
This is all to say, BTS calling each other hyung/dongsaeng, especially in contents made to be consumed by the public, has nothing to do with them considering each other as Real Siblings, nor does it mean the relationship between any two given members is strictly platonic/fraternal. Even if the members werenāt as close as they are, theyād still call each other hyung/dongsaeng, and even if they were all the same age and didnāt call each other hyung/dongsaeng theyād still be allowed to say,Ā āweāre like real brothers*ā to express how close they are. (*Brothers in Korean is ķģ /hyungje/, which literally means older and younger brother.)
Jimin said ģ źø°ģ¼ ėģ¼/aegiya mwoya/, which in this given situation meansĀ āare you a baby or what?ā or āwhat are you, a baby?ā.Ā
I can see why OP thought he saidĀ āwhat is it, babyā though! The difference is in the intonation. If the 'aegiya' was addressing JK as baby (like when he calls him by his name he saysĀ āJungguk-ahā) the last syllable would be slightly more drawn out and lowered. The ėģ¼/mwoya/ part is a question so the last syllable would be raised.Ā
I figured listening is better than reading, so I took the liberty to record the pronunciation of the two varieties.
This is ģ źø°ģ¼ ėģ¼ as in 'what are you, a baby?'
.
And this is ģ źø°ģ¼ ėģ¼ as in 'what is it, baby?'
Hear the difference?
So yes, Jimin said the word baby, but he was calling JK a baby, and not baby as a term of endearment in this situation.
hi , i wanted to ask you about the whispering part in last run episode. many including i n k army jikookers saying they heard jk saying "jiminah saranghae" . i also hear it but is it true. is that the thing he whispered
Hi! Some Korean KMers have been saying JK said ģ§ėƼģ ģ¬ėķ“ ģ§źøė /jiminah saranghae jigeumdo/, some have been saying itās a butchered version of ģ§źø ė°ė” ģ“ ģź° /jigeum baro i sungan/ (lyrics from Boyz with Fun, which JK guessed as the answer to the quiz). It does sound like it could be either of those, but I think itās unlikely that JK randomly chose to confess his love in the middle of a game that he was very keen on winning.
The thing with trying to decipher whispers, mumbles, muffled and background voices is you hear what your brain tells you to hear. Letās be honest here - doesĀ anyone hear anything intelligible apart from ājiā and āsaā? If I were to transcribe the sound I heard it would be something like: Jiwa sawowe jido. The part of our brain that knows the words ģ§ėƼģ, ģ¬ėķ“, and ģ§źøė and thinks KM are in a relationship fleshes this out to perceive it asĀ āJiminah saranghae jigeumdoā. It doesnāt mean thatās indisputably what Jungkook said.Ā
Hi. First of all thank you for helping us I-Army to learn more about the cultural context of certain things and to bring more clarity to moments that may not be easy to understand for Non-Koreans.
I have a question. I read that K-Army wasn't really happy about one thing Tae did in the recent Bangtan episode. The moment he stepped over Jimin, kinda.
twitter(.)com/minS2v/status/1378653350703423490
Is that true? If so why? For me as I-Army I don't really see any problem with that? He was even careful not to hit Jimin accidentally. Thank you in advance. š
(link) Hii sorry Iām so late to answer!Ā
I personally havenāt seen anyone take issue with it (at least outwardly), but I donāt doubt that there were plenty who did. Even IĀ winced when I saw that šĀ Ā
I guess it depends not only on the culture but also on how much of a conservative upbringing youāve had. Iām sure there are K-armys who didnāt see anything wrong with it, and I assume Tae didnāt either - otherwise he wouldnāt have done it.
Itās just not a very pretty picture, you know? Iām sure itās the same way in other cultures but in Korea a personās head is considered the most important part of the body, so you handle it with respect. Having your head under someone elseās crotch is insulting (not talking about sexual situations here). Itās associated with submission and humiliation. How would you feel if someone ordered you to crawl between their legs on your hands and knees? Thatās the kind of imagery stepping over a sitting personās head invokes.Ā
Like I said, I donāt believe Taehyung had any kind of malicious intent towards Jimin by doing what he did. We know heās a carefree guy, and while he is generally polite and well-mannered, from a fellow Koreanās POV sometimes itās glaringly obvious he wasnāt raised by a very conservative and strict family. Which isnāt even a bad thing! He is who he is because of that, and we - myself included - adore him for it. If Jimin didnāt have a problem with it, who are we to judge, anyway?Ā
hi! i have a question abt the part of ITS ep 8, minute 18:57, did hobi mistook JM for JK again? the reason why the subtitles didn't catch "Jungkook"? it's nothing big but JM's "Why are you telling me that" is pretty funny lolol
Hi!Ā
Nah, BTS have a record of mistaking Jimin and Jungkook for each other, but this isnāt one of those cases.Ā
Hobi says: ģ¤ķ ģ“ķ¬ė ģ“ź±° ė¤ź³ ė§Ā ģ“ė ź² ėعģ“ģ¼ ė¼, ģ§ėƼģ (Steak is supposed to be eaten like this, with your hands, Jimin)
(*I know the subtitle says ģ“ź±° ė¤ź³ Ā āė±/ttak/', but to my ears it sounds likeĀ āė§/mak/'.)
The part I bolded is what I think might sound similar to 'Jungkook-ahā to some people. Itās pronounced /deulgo mak/, which should sound nothing like /jeongguk/, but funny how phonetics work, huh? Hobi wasnāt really enunciating so his pronunciation of that particular part was closer to /deugo a/, which can sound similar to a mumbled version of āJungkook-ahā.Ā
A few seconds prior to this the boys were discussing cutting steak. Tae was planning on cutting the meat before serving since they didnāt have table knives. He wanted to make sure the size of the cut pieces was moderate, and in response Jin and Jimin assured him that they could take bites if needed. Hobi was agreeing with them by saying steak was meant to be eaten that way (as a chunk held in hand). Thatās why Jimin asked himĀ āWhy are you telling me thatā - because he was essentially saying the same thing Jimin did (sort of like, youāre preaching to the choir).Ā
Hi! I'm the "Get out of your imagination" anon. lol. Thanks for the clarification.
Oh my goodness that's embarrassing! how can they twist the words of their own idol?Whenever I see someone remind a tkkr about that, they say it's either a mistranslation or that V wants the fan to stop it because JK is his. that doesn't make sense. another proof that they are delusional and don't really care about their idol.
Hey again!Ā
That is... very creative of them? Iām in awe.Ā
Tae literally used the wordĀ āimaginationā - what is it that the OP fan imagined that he wanted to stop? The fan didnāt say anything about imagining herself in a y/n scenario with JK. The fanās post was in response to Vās post asking if anyone knew how to fall asleep since he couldnāt.Ā
(trans: I want to sleep, anyone knows how?)Ā
The fan was literally suggesting V to look at photos of ~his beloved JK~ to fall asleep. V more or less told her to quit insinuating he and JK are lovers. End of story.Ā
ģ“ėØøė/eomeoni/ and ģ“ėØøė/eomeonim/ can both be used to address/refer to someone elseās mother, but only the former is used to call your own mother. ģ“ėØøė is definitely the more formal version of the two. It shows a higher level of respect to the person being addressed and also alludes to a greater emotional distance between you and that person.
Using ģ“ėØøė doesnāt really say that much about the relationship between you and the person whose mother youāre addressing, though. You can call/refer to your best friend or even your significant otherās mother as ģ“ėØøė if you havenāt personally met/spoke to her often. When my best friend of 19 years asks me about my mom she uses ģ“ėØøė. I use ģ“ėØøė when I ask my boyfriend of 5 years after his mother.
ģ“ėØøė, on the other hand, is generally only used when you have an established relationship with the other personās mother on a personal level, i.e. youāve met many times, regularly talk to each other etc. Also - and not to suggest anything but - when you become family with the other personās mother, that is, when sheās your mother-in-law.
Which form did Jimin use? I'm confused. I know it's said in the original ask but I've seen posts saying he said one and others saying he said the other. Did he use eomeoni or eomeonim?
Actually both Vlive and Weverse have Korean subtitles too, which I like to use from time to time because the boys are always talking over each other and sometimes I donāt feel like watching a scene several times to catch everything.Ā
Hi! First of all, I'd like to thank you for running this blogāI wouldn't know what to do without you. Thank you so much!! For my question, I don't think I've seen any jikookies talking about this? (or I've just been missing out, if that's the case then, sorry!)
Towards the end of this video ( https://youtu.be/kBOpwqoOGXc , 0:50-ish I guess? ) I think I heard JK calling JM as "Jimin-ah" without noticing that they're being shot by a camera, but I don't really want to jump into conclusions... did JK really called him without any honorifics? Their reactions (HS immediately looking at JM) seems genuinely surprised. Thank you for reading, I hope you understand where I'm getting from. š„ŗ
Hi! Thanks for the lovely message, youāre too kind!Ā
(link) I... canāt really say anyone looks surprised at whatever JK said. Firstly, the video isnāt very high-quality so itās hard to make out everyoneās facial expressions, but secondly, no-oneās really paying attention to JKās words when we hear his voice.
This is from the exact moment JK says what is subbed āJimin-ahā, at the 0:52 mark. Suga, Jin and RM are looking in the cameraās direction. Taehyung just went off screen two seconds before this. These four are not paying attention to either JK or Jimin.Ā
Hobiās walking in from the right towards the center to line up behind the other members. We donāt see JK or Jimin yet but two seconds later JK appears from the left side, and Jimin from the right side, a little bit closer to the front than Hobi. Just as we hear JKās voice Hobi looks back over his left shoulder. It can seem like as if heās looking at Jimin who is walking in from the same direction. I personally donāt think Jimin was in Hobiās line of sight when Hobi turned his head, considering the angle, but itās hard to say for sure.Ā
As for the actual words... well, donāt hate me for this, but I donāt know. Could be, could be not. I hear a J sound and a M sound but itās not enough for me to say with absolute certainty that itāsĀ āJimin-ahā.Ā
IF Jungkook really did call Jimin just by his name, itās something thatās happened frequently enough in the past that I donāt think any of the members would be fazed or shocked by it. These days itās actually come to a point that the boys have been together as a group for such a long time that all of them will drop the honorifics andĀ ā-hyungās with the older members from time to time.Ā
TL;DR - not sure if JK really did say Jimin-ah, but even if he did without knowing he was being filmed (which I also doubt since they were literally there to be filmed), itās not something that wouldāve surprised Hobi or any of the members.Ā
