“Jagi”
Maybe I have talked about this before, I’m not sure. But I wanna talk about usage of the word Jagi in SFH.
Jagiya means Honey, Darling, Sweetheart etc. more casually Babe. It’s often used in romantic exchange between people who are dating each other. This term is also used between close friends or best friends. Especially women best friends. Women besties often call each other “Jagi” as a term of endearment. This is something that can be used as a term of endearment between couples and besties both, depending on tone of the speakers
However Jagi (not the word Jagiya) has another meaning. Literal dictionary meaning shows it means oneself, self, myself, as one etc. Other loose meanings also exist depending on context and who’s speaking (Hangul is a very context oriented language ) .
In the webtoon Yeongsam calls mostly Jagiya (if I’m not mistaking) but in the series, Moon Jo uses the term Jagi, a lot. When talking to Jung Woo, he calls him Jagi like every 10 seconds. In the webtoon, it’s not that frequent but Yeongsam also uses it quite a bit. I think this was done intentionally. Director Lee Chang Hee is very well known for his playing with nuances and languages.
Taken literally, Jagi means Darling. But most things in Strangers From Hell are not always literal. Pretty much everything in this series carries hidden meanings. I think the usage of the word Jagi wasn’t only meant as an endearment or as Honey. It was also used to show how Moon Jo sees Jung Woo. Moon Jo sees himself in Jung Woo or he sees himself and Jung Woo as one (literal grammatical meaning). Which is also very intimate ngl. I think that was a big part of Moon Jo using Jagi so frequently in the series. It wasn’t just romantic or endearing. I love SFH’s writer, screenwriter and director so much 🖤🖤🖤
