Tiger’s Wedding Day

AGE: 53

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Attorney

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: New York 

INTERVIEW SUMMARY:

When asking my mother of any proverbs she grew up on she told the story of the Tiger’s Wedding Day. Whenever it was raining on a sunny day, her mother [my grandmother] would say “it’s tiger’s wedding day,” referencing the tale. While my mother does not remember the exact story of it, this is the basic premise of how the story goes:

The Tiger, the King of the Mountain, was getting married to the Fox. During the wedding ceremony, the Cloud fell in love with the Fox, causing it to weep.

This story comes directly from the translation of sun shower from Korean to English. In Korean, the term for sun showers is yeowoo bi (여우비), which directly translates to “fox rain” in English.

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

I think it’s interesting how our culture can weave into parts of the proverbs and phrases we use and pass down generations. Even though my mother didn’t remember the actual story itself, she remembered the phrase that her mother would say every time there was a sun shower. Storytelling is such a deep part of Korean culture (and especially culture as a whole), so there is no surprise that it shows up in the every day phrases my family uses.

Shaking the luck out of your leg

AGE: 53

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Attorney

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: New York 

Interviewer: Are there any superstitions or other phrases you remember being used around your family growing up?

TL: “Well there’s not anything distinct that I remember people saying, but my grandma was a very superstitious woman. There’s a saying in Korean that when you shake your leg [like a habit], all the luck will come out. When my grandma first met your dad, she saw the dent in his forehead and lost her mind. She thought all the luck was about to come out of his head.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

This superstition of “losing your luck” reminds me a lot of when parents will tell their kids scary stories to prevent them from going out and causing trouble. For example, the story of La Llorona or of skin walkers. In East Asian cultures, there’s a lot of superstitions and phrases surrounding luck. Such as, in Chinese culture, having an “auspicious nose” means you have a lucky nose and you’re bound for success and wealth. In this case, I guess my great grandmother saw my dad’s “deformity” (for lack of better terms) and deemed it as unlucky. Although he wasn’t born with the dent, but was just dropped as a baby, there is some tie between body parts and the luck they hold. Could breaking a bone cause luck to pour out of me then? And would there be a way to earn it back or is it gone forever? These are some questions I have about this concept.

Dad’s Favorite Sayings

AGE: 59

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Doctor 

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: Korean

RESIDENCE: New York 

For context, my dad is a very dry and sarcastic man.

Interviewer: Are there any particular phrases you remember growing up hearing? Or any of your own that you use?

TL: “No.” [Proceeds to think of any phrases he uses]

Interviewer: Oh well I remember your most common one: “Suck it up buttercup!”

TL: “Oh yes.”

[My mother]: “Your dad loves to say ‘Don’t be a knucklehead’ to you and your sister!”

Interviewer: Oh yes! You also say “You can’t teach stupid” a lot.

TL: “Mmm.” [This is him agreeing]

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Because of my dad’s nature, it ended up with my mother and I leading the conversation from things that we remember my dad saying. While my dad might forget the things he says (which I personally feel that it’s common for people to forget the habitual phrases and words they use), my family and I remember it quite well. My dad loves to use proverbs or phrases that teach a lesson of some sort. After the interview, I asked my father where he learned these from and he stated it was a mix of his dad, TV, and the people he grew up playing sports around in NYC. What’s even more interesting is that I find myself using one of his phrases, “you can’t teach stupid” myself when giving advice to my friends. It’s incredibly interesting how common phrases and things we hear in our environments and families become a part of our subconscious.

Beginning Rather than the End – South Indian Saying

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Language: Telugu, translated to English

Saying/Culture: “Anthya Nishturam Kanna Aadi nishturame melu” 

Translates to: Better to Regret in the Beginning than at the end

  1. Context:

Being made fun of his whole life, he told me about his dad telling him this when he started his journey in the gym. Starting as a scrawny high school sophomore who could barely lift 45 pounds to someone who reps out 205 pound on the benchpress, this saying has truly resonated with him. He told me that his dad learned this from his dad when growing up in a farm in South India, where trying something knew and even breaking out of a generational farm path was the fruition of this saying.

Analysis: The fact that this proverb has been used for something far from its original grounding demonstrates the duality and multiple meanings that this can have. I found it interesting that the gym is why his father passed it down to him rather than traditional & preconceived educational stereotypes placed on south indians and south asians as a whole. The meaning itself has seen multiple translations or similar lines in America in other forms, in my opinion, and roots from a traditional sports background or more currently with Generation-Z, the college application process.

Success Beats Talent – American-ized Saying

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Schnectdady, New York
Language: English

Saying: “Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard”

Context: Coming from an immigrant family, he learned this from his parents who believed that no matter how much work he puts there will be output. As long as you are dedicated and you put hard work into something, you can make a tangible impact and achieve what you want. As an acting major in LA, this has been a big part of his life and he wasn’t a kid actor who made it into Hollywood. Rather than starting in high school and acting in plays at this production level, he saw this hard work pay off when he got into the USC School of Dramatic Arts.  Furthermore, he saw this come into play when he got into the Business Technology Group as a non-finance background major. Beating out kids with backgrounds in finance, or strong connections to executive board members of the club he put time into casing and breaking down parts of the application process.

Analysis: Being brought up with Indian parents myself, I find myself in a similar situation to him, as our parents both fought off systematic racism to make their place in the country. As such, I also find it interesting how culturally this saying has been generationally modified because as we have parents and parental figures who bear down us to become doctors or engineers, this has changed in the fact that he is pursuing a non-traditional career and is seen as one that is hard to break into. For background, in Bollywood, those who make it into this career are those who come from money or have connections, so the fact that he has been able to suppress that and continue this idea in his unpaved path is truly eye-opening.