Author: Britney L.

Britney Lilly

Dr. Hall

1101-D355

3. 11.19

                                                 Aegyo: Super Cute!!!

1 plus 1 equals Gwiyomi, 2 plus 2 equals Gwiyomi, 3 plus 3 equals Gwiyomi, 4 plus 4 equals Gwiyomi too, 5 plus 5 equals Gwiyomi too, 6 plus 6 equals Chu chu Chu chu Chu chu Gwiyomi, I’m Gwiyomi-   Korean Aegyo song

 

That moment when you just want jagis(honey) last bite of ice and unleash the powerful trio: puppy eyes, pouted lips and fake huffing. Here in America some call this being cute though honestly, most would call it annoying and needy. In South Korea, they actually have a word solely dedicated to this act called aegyo. I remembered the first time I saw a K-pop music video and I was seventeen years old. This group called Big Bang had just debuted, and instantly I was hooked. To this day I am still a diehard Big Bang fan. It had everything any Asian culture fanatic would want, at least for me that is. Music videos alone were a work of art with beautiful stories being told, mesmerizing dance moves, varieties of colors and a ton of cute actions as fan service. I mean, who doesn’t like a good fan service from their idols am I right? Now, remember when I say fan service, at least for K-pop, I mean a bunch of things from simple fingers symbols to full-on gender bend outfits and actions.

Aegyo is the action of being ‘cute’ and is primarily used by women in South Korea when speaking to loved ones or trying to gain something that they want as well as flirting. When performing Aegyo you have to remember that not everybody enjoys it and it is seen as very annoying at times because there is what is called fake Aegyo and natural Aegyo. Fake is normally what you would see on TV or performances and overly exaggerated movements or words. Natural is when you’re not trying to seem cute for somebody and it tends to be the one that’s less annoying generally. Aegyo is generally expressed by females by simple actions like delicately covering their teeth while they laugh which is very common and acting like they are unable to open things like cans of soda. Aegyo is one of the most common acts in South Korea, as well as progressively within the United States amongst those who enjoy Korean economic export as in Korean music, K-dramas and movies. It is otherwise known as Hallyu which is a Chinese umbrella term used to refer to the phenomenal growth of the Korean culture amongst the western cultures. The closest English word we could find would be winsome.

If you happen to be into K-dramas or K-pop then you have already seen and heard Aegyo being used by actors or a multitude of singers. With K-pop comes biases, with biases comes fandoms and that fandom will ask for Aegyo and lots of ‘bwing bwing’. Let’s not forget something, we even see Agyeo here in the United States which are girls pouting their lips daily and wide-eyed ganging the peace sign while snapping selfies in a coffee shop. Even though it usually tends to be females, males are able to use it as well normally reserving it for the cute baby talk with their partner.

Fans use Korean words in their daily speech, these words are generally a form of Korean slang that recurs frequently in the Korean pop culture. For me, I find that the fans who I am generally around are female, so we call each other either 언니 (elder sister) or  동생 (younger sibling) and will talk about our biases (favorite group or person) as some call them 오빠 (big brother) which kind of makes me think of sempai (先輩)  (upperclassmen) in Japanese. For example, I like talk to Zevanya about our biases a lot, especially when I’m really down. Watching G-Dragon doing really cute things as simple as just making cute faces or acting out the Gwiyomi song can really make me giddy. For a better understanding try imaging a bunch of little girls screaming at a Justin Bieber concert, now stop. I apologize for making you imagine that, but you get a general idea of just how fans act when talking amongst ourselves and cooing with an immense amount of Korean hand gestures like the finger hearts or the ‘v’ sign (in Korean movie is different as the English letter) and pouting while using sickeningly sweet baby voices.

I remember when I first got into Korean music and would show it to my friends since it made me feel happy and they would look at me like I grew two heads. Acting in an aegyo fashion with my loved ones, and oddly enough, it became more expected of me even though they found it annoying. It made me feel very uncomfortable and the thing that made me happy at that time became the thing that made me the most self-conscious. To be able to find a group of people that understand my language and my interest is an amazing thing because they are so full of love. The groups that are able to invoke this much emotion have a huge impact on aegyo. As a fan you’re gonna wanna watch your favorite group perform live because it’s almost there in the actual crowd. K – pop artists seem to have a lot more fun with their fans while performing which is easy for you as the viewer to feel like you’re there and they’re actually trying to interact with you.

Groups or singers that are very well known for using it is Girls generation which is just a group of cute Aegyo girls in my honest opinion. Followed by Se7en, Wanna One, Monsta X, the list goes on. In the K-pop comes fandoms and those fandoms ask for Aegyo and bbwing bbwing. I really enjoy how cultures bring diverse people together in mutual understanding. To me, a word as simple as aegyo is a great example of a cultural phenomenon that can be, and often is, misunderstood and/or interpreted in an unnecessarily negative light. Many may have that love-hate relationship with aegyo culture, most seem to lean more towards the latter. But for those who shy away from things they view as odd or different should remember that it is important to learn about what others enjoy with no assumptions in their minds. Everyone has a bit of aegyo in them and shouldn’t be afraid or uncomfortable to let it out.

 

~~~~ 닥터 홀 당신은 최고입니다 !!!! ~~~

 

                                          Works Cited

•             Korean, 90 Day. “Korean Aegyo: The Seven Levels.” 90 Day Korean®, 3 Feb. 2019, www.90daykorean.com/korean-aegyo/.

 

•  “Aegyo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegyo.

 

• account, The Korea HeraldVerified. “The Korea Herald (@TheKoreaHerald).” Twitter, Twitter, 18 Mar. 2019, twitter.com/TheKoreaHerald.

 

 

 

Aegyo: super cute

1 plus 1 equals Gwiyomi, 2 plus 2 equals Gwiyomi, 3 plus 3 equals Gwiyomi, 4 plus 4 equals Gwiyomi too, 5 plus 5 equals Gwiyomi too, 6 plus 6 equals chu chu chu chu chu chu Gwiyomi, I’m Gwiyomi- Korean Aegyoaeygo song 

I remember the first time I ever saw Korean pop music video I was seventeen years old it was this group called big bang who had just debuted, and instantly I was hooked. It had everything any Asian pop culture fanatic could want, at least for me that is. They had a lot of colors, coordinated dancing, amazing storylines, fun videos huge group numbers and cute actions or saying as fan service. And who doesn’t like a good fan service am I right? Now, remember when I say fan service at least for k-pop I mean a bunch of things from simple fingers symbols to full-on gender bend outfits and actions. Aegyo is one of the most common and services in South Korea, as well as progressively within the United States amongst those who enjoy Korean troll economic export as in Korean music K dramas and movies. Other known as Hallyu which is a Chinese umbrella term used to refer to the phenomenal growth of the Korean culture amongst the western cultures.    If you happen to be into K-dramas or k-pop then you have already seen and heard Aegyo being used by actors or a multitude of singers. Aegyo is the action of being ‘cute’ and is primarily used by Women in South Korea when speaking to loved ones or trying to gain something that they want and flirting. When performing Aegyo you have to remember that not everybody enjoys it and it is seen as very annoying at times because there is what is called fake Aegyo and what is called natural Aegyo,  Fake is normally what you would see on the TV or performances and overly exaggerated movements are words. Natural is when you’re not trying to seem cute for somebody and it tends to be the one that’s less annoying generally.   Aegyo is generally expressed by females by simple actions like delicately covering their teeth while they laugh which is very common. Acting like they are unable to open things like cans of soda. Let’s not forget something we even see here in the state’s girls pouting their lips and wide-eyed snapping selfies in the coffee shop. Even though it tends to be female males are able to use it as well normally reserving it for the cute baby talk with their partner.   Fans use Korean words in their daily speech with each other, these words are generally a form of Korean slang that recurs frequently in the Korean pop culture. For me, I find that the fans, I am generally around or female and we will call each other Noona (elder sister) or  yeodongsaeng ( younger sibling) and will talk about our biases ( favorite group or person) as some call them and others say oppa ( big brother) which kind of makes me think of sempai ( upperclassmen)in Japanese. Imagine a bunch of little girls at a Justin Bieber concert and you get a General idea of how we can act when talking. A lot of squealing and cooing with an immense amount of Korean hand gestures like the finger hearts or the ‘v’ sign (in Korean movie is not the same as the English letter) and pouting while using sickeningly sweet baby voices. I remember when I first got into Korean music and I would show it to my friends since it made me feel happy and they would look at me like I grew two heads. Or acting in an aegyo fashion with my loved ones, and oddly enough, it became more expected of me even though they found it annoying. It made me feel very uncomfortable and the thing that made me happy at a time became the thing that made me the most self-conscious and to be able to find a group of people that understand my language and my interest is an amazing thing because they are so full of love.  The groups that are able to invoke this much emotion have a huge impact on aegyo . As a fan you’re gonna wanna watch your favorite group perform live because it’s almost there in the actual crowd.  K – pop artists seem to have a lot more fun with their fans while performing that is easy for you as the viewer to feel like you’re there and you’re actually trying to interact with you. Groups or singers that are very well known for using it are Girls generation which is just a group of cute Aegyo girls in my honest opinion, se7en,  wanna one The list goes on.  With k-pop comes fandom’s and those fandoms were asked for Aegyo and bbwing bbwing.   I really enjoy how cultures bring diverse people together in mutual understanding. To me, a word as simple as aegyo is a great example of a cultural phenomenon that can be, and often is, misunderstood and/or interpreted in an unnecessarily negative light. Many may have that love-hate relationship with aegyo culture, most seeming to lean more towards the latter. but for those who shy away from things they view as odd or different should remember that it is important to learn about what others enjoy with no assumptions in their minds. Everyone has a bit of aegyo in them and shouldn’t be afraid or uncomfortable to let it out.       

Know:

In the K-pop community, there are many trends that are passed down from Idols to their collective fan groups which all have separate names. Aegyo is one of the larger trends that are requested as a fan service so idols will give a series of sounds and gestures like the finger hearts bbwingbbwing which (which is seen as an older aegyeo) as well as speak in a baby voice. There is a debate as to who created the aegyeo movement and what idol started the finger hearts (my idol used it first I think), which was really fascinating to me. Another interesting fact that I had found out is that baby shark, which is been a huge thing in South Korea since the mid-1990s was popularized online in 2007 by a German YouTube or named Alexandra Müller. She posted a video on YouTube of herself doing the song movements to the theme song of jaws while singing the words. A couple years later A South Korean educational brand pink fong picked up the song again in 2015 and it’s video game to 2.4 billion views on YouTube as of March 2019. Indonesia was/is the most enthralled with the song since thousand 17 and has a lot of adults and children creating videos dancing to or singing baby shark. With the growing interest of the song, many idols in South Korea have been using the dance as a form of aegyeo singing and dancing in costumes with cute voices for the fans of all ages. 

(+):

– what is the Korean wave?

– is it really a global phenomenon?

–  what other cultures does it not affect?

Serenity –the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled

Serendipity – the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Moon – a goddess symbol that represents the Maiden, Mother and Crone as the waxing, full and waning moons. It is also a symbol of the spiritual aspects of femininity, such as intuition, psychic abilities, creativity and wisdom.

Moon magick- There is a belief common to many cultures that working rituals at the time of different phases of the moon can bring about physical or psychological change or transformation.

 

While reading “The brief and notorious life of Oscar Wao” by Junot D íaz, I found the text easy to read whereas some of the word choice was a bit hard. I think the hardest thing for me in this article really was the fact that there were a lot of Spanish or slang  words which would throw me off of my groove.”Everybody knew someone who had been eaten by a fukù, just like everybody knew somebody that worked up in Palacio.“(3). Though this sentence for me was n’t the hardest I still for some reason found myself re-reading the words more than once, because I couldn’t just figure it out from the context clues for some reason. Once I was able to get past my challenges reading certain words I found the lore about the fukù to be extremely intriguing and pulled me in enough to be able to continue on to the footnotes. I found the footnotes to be my favorite part of the reading because of the way Diaz spoke about the history kept me captivated with their crude and at times vulgar tongue “A portly, sadistic, pig-eyed melato who bleached his skin, wore platform shoes, and had a fondness for Napoleon – era haberdashery, Trujillo …. came to control nearly every aspect of the DR is the political-cultural social and economic life through a potent (and familiar) mixture of violence, intimidation, massacre, rape, cooperation, and terror,  treated the country like it was a plantation and he was the master”. (3) The more Diaz described Trujillo the more I pictured a genocide that I was never fully aware of happened. Diaz was able to teach me some of the histories and loop it into the text beautifully by saying that many people believed that he succeeds so well because of his pack with the fukù. As for me well, I think it’s just the human want to be able to believe in something magical, or they want to have an unknown force be able to take the blame for your faults in life.