Nationality: South Korean
Age: 49
Occupation: Pharmacist
Residence: Oakdale, California
Performance Date: 4/26/2016
Primary Language: Korean
- Original Script: 청개구리
- Phonetic Script: Chung-kgeh-kgu-ry
- Transliteration Blue frog
- I know this because my mom used to say it to me when someone was acting strangely for attention
- I learned it from my mother
- It just means that when you’re behaving oddly you’re like a blue frog trying to fight the normalcy of the usual green frog.
- The context of the performance was just me and Mom discussing various folk speech in Korea because she always has some sort of phrase to say to me for all sorts of situations.
- I think it’s a very typical piece of Korean folk speech. I noticed through hanging out with other Korean families and watching historical Korean movies that a lot of their customs and culture is built around animals and consistency (as valued in their primary religions of Confucianism and Buddhism). However, growing up I got the impression that to stand out is discouraged unless it’s because you’re more gifted than others. So it makes sense to me that there’s an entire phrase dedicated to those who fight normalcy.
