Author Archives: Su Young Kim

Eating the ends of kimbab

 

Informant is a Korean international student at USC, majoring in accounting. She is 21 years old, and has lived in Korea until she finished high school. Her primary language is Korean. Her family consists of five members –her mom, her dad, younger brother, younger sister, and herself.

 

 

Kimbab

Kimbab

 

 

Superstition: Do not eat the ends of kimbab. If you do, you will be the bottom of the class.

 

“Whenever I ate kimbab with my mom, she claimed the ends of kimbab as hers. What she said was that if I eat the ends, than I will be the bottom of my class. I remember her saying this in a joking way, but she still took the ends of kimbab. I don’t think I truly believed eating the ends would make me the bottom, but I just avoided eating it as possible. No one wants to be the bottom, right? I mean, just in case. There was this strange feeling that I would really place the bottom if I eat the ends. My mom said she learned this from Grandma, who told her the same thing. When my mom was young, she always saw Grandma eating the ends before she did.

“I have this memory back in middle school. I went to eat with my friends, and we ordered kimbab. When kimbab came out, I jokingly said how eating the ends would make someone be the bottom of the class. I expected my friends to relate to this superstition, but somehow it was only me and this other friend who knew about it. It was so weird. Most of my friends have been confidently eating the ends of kimbab. That was never me. I just avoided the ends as possible, intentionally and unintentionally. I think there was no time I ever saw the ends of kimbab without being reminded of this superstition. I guess that thought got instilled in me. Now, I eat the ends of kimbab without any worries. Funny thing is that the ends are actually more delicious than other parts. I like eating them, but I am still reminded of it.

“I think my family followed this superstition because my family, historically, have been closely tied to education. My mom is a doctor and you couldn’t see many female doctors back in her time. Grandpa was a general. I feel like the importance of education in my family has made our family to believe in such superstition. I might tell my children about this superstition and finish off the ends of kimbab before they do. Haha.”

 

The informant’s family believed in the superstition that eating the ends of kimbab, a Korean traditional food, would make one be at the bottom of class. As the informant described, I also think this superstition is closely tied to Confucius beliefs. Korea, which is heavily influenced by Confucianism, places great importance on children’s education. Parent’s want for children to excel in education naturally created this superstition, which avoids anything resembles ‘the end.’  

Chinese tongue twister

The informant is Chinese American who was born and raised in California. He can speak Chinese, but he is not very fluent. At home, he speaks English to his parents, whom replies back to him in Chinese. He is a business student at USC.

Tongue twister: 吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮 (chi putao bu tu putao pi, bu chi putao dao tu putao pi)

Informant:  “The literal translation of this tongue twister is “eat grapes but not spit out the skin, not eat grapes but spit out the skin.” It doesn’t have any meanings. It’s just made for tongue twister purposes. When I was young my mom told me it, and then she had me say it. I think she taught me this tongue twister as part of language development.”

“Some of my Chinese American friends also know this, because it’s something that they teach in Chinese schools here. I went to a Chinese kindergarten, because my mom wanted me to speak Chinese fluently. I learned this tongue twister again at that kindergarten. I think it definitely helped me improve Chinese. Chinese have several different tones, and saying those tones differently may make the sentence mean something totally different. So practicing the tones and exact pronunciations is an important part of learning Chinese, and tongue twisters definitely help me practice tones and pronunciations.”

Tongue twisters exist in many different language groups. Like the example given by the informant, many tongue twisters do not have meanings. It’s solely made for language development. No one knows who made it, but the tongue twisters definitely help people to improve their pronunciation. Tongue twisters may differ by regions. In China, the difference is larger than any other countries, because there exists so many types of language groups in China. 

Do not turn over a cooked fish

The informant is from Shanghai, China. She came to the United States when she was in middle school. Her family still lives in Shanghai, and she returns home every break. Her primary language is Cantonese. She is 20 years old, and she majors in Cinematic Arts. 

Superstition: When you eat a whole fish, steamed or boiled, on a plate, do not turn over the fish after you are done with the top side. It’s bad luck. Flipping the fish symbolizes a fisherman’s ship flipping or crashing.

Informant: “It’s a popular superstition in China. Even though not everyone follows it, everyone knows about it. My family use chopsticks to pull the flesh from beneath the fish after we are done with the front part. We don’t have to explain why. We tacitly all agree not to. For me, I don’t believe that a fisherman’s ship would flip if I turn over the fish. However I just don’t flip the fish. After all it symbolizes bad luck, and why not avoid it? Also, not turning over the fish became a habit. In fact, I almost never am reminded of the superstition when I eat fish”

The informant is from Shanghai, one of the most important sea ports in the Yangtze Delta region. The sea environment and importance of fish industry led people in Shanghai to create such superstition and believe in it. One interesting thing is that the informant does not believe in the superstition, but still follows it. She is not reminded of the superstition, so it is clear that this superstition has lost its meaning. Then why come people avoid turning over a cooked fish? I think it came to be associated largely with ‘bad luck’ instead of specifically crashing of the fisherman’s boat. As seen, connotations of superstition changes over time.

The Shanghai Marriage Market

The informant is from Shanghai, China. She came to the United States when she was in middle school. Her family still lives in Shanghai, and she returns home every break. Her primary language is Cantonese. She is 20 years old, and she majors in Cinematic Arts. 

Informant: The Shanghai Marriage Market is a marriage market in which parents of unmarried adults flock to People’s Park in Shanghai, China every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The market’s name in Chinese is 人民公园相亲角 (pinyin: rénmín Gōngyuán xiāngqīn jiǎo), and it literally means “People’s Park blind date corner.”

“The old parents would take a resume, which has their daughter’s or son’s name, age, height, college degree, job, interests, religious values, etc. They would hang the resume upon long strings among other parents advertisements for their children. Then, they meet other parents and talk about their children, like, “oh, my son. He is so good. You should meet my son.” or “I think my son fits your daughter.” Basically, instead of having kids meet each other, the parents meet each other to find a future daughter-in-law or son-in-law. 

To be honest, it’s a tradition that is dying out. It was popular about 10 years ago. It has a low success rate, and in fact most daughters and sons of modern China don’t want to meet their other half through this way. So the parents that go to the marriage market usually do not have their child’s permission. But there still are many parents who go to the market, and there definitely are cases of successful matchmaking. I think the market exists just to uphold the old Chinese tradition.”

Matchmaking was an integral part of the ancient Chinese marriage customs. Almost all couples were married through matchmaking, because China’s long idealized tradition of continuing their family lineage was very important. Marriage wasn’t  purely about intercourse between man and woman. It was more about that between two families, and it served many political roles. This Shanghai Marriage Market is a good example of deepening difference between the old generation and the new generation. The old generation tend to follow old Chinese traditions, while the new generation, influenced by the advance in technology, follow different values. Whether this park would remain after five years or so would be an intriguing questions.

Peppero Day (11/11)

The informant is Korean American, who was born as raised in California. She has been to Korea only for few months, but in California she lives in LA so she is familiar with Korean culture.

Peppero

Peppero Day (11/11)

Koreans celebrate 11/11 as “peppero day.” It is a day when Koreans give pepperos to each other, to whom they love, care, respect, etc. This day can be simply taken as a day of confirming friendship, but it can also be a day of confessing one’s love. It’s similar to valentine’s day in America. 

Peppero is a chocolate snack that resembled a stick (similar to pocky). Peppero day is 11/11 because the date resembled four sticks standing. On this day, the peppero company releases peppero day special pepperos. These pepperos are a lot more fancy and big than normal pepperos. Some people make peppero on their own, and give it to lovers and friends. There is a notion that peppero day is a sales gimmick by peppero company, but it has definitely became one of Korea’s big celebratory days. 

Even the Korean markets in Ktwon, LA, celebrates peppero day. They have peppero specials, and so many people buy it. Korean students at USC celebrate peppero day also. One of the Korean organization on campus freely give out pepperos every year on peppero day.

Peppero day is basically same as Valentine’s day, except that people share a specific type of snack named peppero. I have no idea how this peppero day started. All I know is that I was celebrating peppero day by the time I became an elementary student. Peppero day naturally became 11/11 because the date and the appearance of peppero look alike. However, why didn’t other dates that look like an object succeed as having this much of an importance? For example, how come no one knows about the glasses day which is 10/01?  (the glasses industry claims this day as a ‘glasses day’ and promises discounts on glasses). What was so special about pepperos? These are some interesting questions.