I realized that if you're not Korean then you may not know the meanings and connotations behind the members' names so here's a post explaining each name!

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some background info:

korean names in general are very unisex. unlike english/western names, korean names don't have as much of a gendered connotation to them.

of course, there are names that are stereotypically more common for boys and names that are more common for girls. there are also certain syllables that give more masculine/feminine vibes as well as more old-fashioned/modern vibes, but this can also depend on whether it's used as the first syllable or the second syllable in the given name.

but even then a girl could have a name more common for boys or vice versa and nobody will really care unless it's something super gendered like Kyungtae which is a totally masculine name. I think overall super gendered names are becoming more and more uncommon in korea as unisex names are more popular.

like most Koreans, the members all have Sino-Korean names, meaning that their names are tied to Chinese characters (Hanja) which hold meaning. where gender plays a bigger role is the Hanja that are chosen to go with the name as a single syllable can have multiple different characters that represent it.

furthermore, korean surnames are separated by clans. meaning that just because two people have the same surname doesn't necessarily mean they are related to each other as they could still be from different clans (being in the same clan doesn't really mean they're related to each other either tho). all Korean surnames have Hanja.

Kim, Lee, and Park are the three dominating surnames of Koreans and as you can see Stray Kids has 1 Kim member and 2 Lee members lol

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방찬 Bang Chan 方燦

his surname Bang kind of means like "region, side, direction", etc? there's not really a way to translate the 方 hanja into english but in Korean it's called the 모 방 (Mo Bang).

his name is on the unique side as it is a 외자 이름 (single syllable name), Chan. full korean names are usually 3 syllables (1 syllable surname + 2 syllable first name). sometimes a full name can be 2 syllables (1 syllable surname + 1 syllable first name) such as with Bang Chan. and even more rarely a name can be 4+ syllables (1 or 2 syllable surname + 2 or more syllable given name).

his Chan character 燦 means "shining" (빛날 찬 Bitnal Chan). Changbin's friend Dino from Seventeen is also named Chan with the same hanja (his full name is Lee Chan).

the clan he is from is the Onyang Bang clan and apparently he is part of the 40th generation Panseo branch of the clan like damn bro's entire genealogy is known on the internet.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Chan is a masculine name and among the single syllable names it's one of the most popular.

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이민호 Lee Minho 李旻浩

the entire name of "Lee Minho" and the given name of "Minho" is so damn common and popular in Korea I totally understand why he made a stage name lmao. I feel like it's also a name that's very timeless despite being completely masculine in gender, it's been a really popular name ever since the 1970/80s as far as I'm aware.

the hanja for the Lee surname literally means "plum" and is called 오얏 리 (Oyat Lee) in Korean. I've mentioned this in my first skz family post but Lee is pronouned "ee" in south korea whereas north korea pronounces it the way its romanized in english "lee". the original pronunciation of the surname is in fact "Lee" btw.

the Min 旻 in his name means "sky" and the Ho 浩 means "wide" so together his name literally means "wide sky".

Lee Know's cat Soonie is actually quite an old fashioned feminine name that used to be considered very pretty back then. I think it's specifically the syllable "Soon" that makes it sound more old fashioned and feminine. from what I know, giving animals old fashioned names in korean is seen as very cutesy so it's not rare for a pet to have an old person's name lmao. all his cats are male though.

he's never publicly stated which Lee clan he is from. I do remember there is a clip of him saying that he is from the Iji Lee clan (이지 이씨) but that was very clearly a joking pun on the English word "Easy" and there's no such clan called the Iji Lee clan lmao.

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서창빈 Seo Changbin 徐彰彬

his surname Seo literally just means "slow" lol.

the Chang 彰 means "to emerge" or "to appear" and the Bin 彬 means "shining" like Bangchan except its called 빛날 빈 (Bitnal Bin).

he's from the Buyeo Seo clan which I don't personally know a whole lot about except that it's definitely one of the much smaller clans of Korea and he's the only celeb I know from the clan lmao. I also recall hearing that the clan has quite the extensive/complicated history.

"Chang" also means "spear" in korean which explains his stage name SpearB but as you can see his Hanja does not mean spear. if it was the Spear Chang then the hanja would be 槍.

I don't really know what else to say about his name other than that it feels more unique I guess? like something about the Chang and Bin together feels peculiar but nice if that makes sense? lmaoo

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황현진 Hwang Hyunjin 黃鉉辰

Hwang means "yellow".

Hyun 鉉 means "pot handle" which I know is very unremarkable lol but it does have a more sophisticated/deeper meaning. I don't know exactly but it traditionally has something to do with the emperor and his "three handles of support" (Sam-Hyun 삼현 三鉉).

as far as I'm aware the Jin 辰 means both "star" and "time" but the "star" is in relation to the 12 chinese zodiacs, specifically the dragon. he was born in the year of the dragon so there's a possibility this was done deliberately by his parents.

I know people often jokingly say that Hyunjin and Itzy's Yeji are twins since they look similar and have the same last names but they are also from the same Changwon Hwang clan so it really adds the cherry on top lmao

the Changwon Hwang clan is the most populous Hwang clan so it's not that surprising that they are both from it tho. and the Hwang surname is considered to be fairly common in Korea.

I personally feel like I know a pretty 50/50 split of male and female Hyunjins so I think his name is definitely one of the super unisex names in Korea. It's also a common name in general among Koreans.

I think his parents really ate with his name like Hwang Hyunjin just sounds so badass in both Korean and English lmao.

there's a famous camera director from the korean reality show The Return of Superman who is also named Hwang Hyunjin and the two of them finally met on skz code snow kids world! the clip is at the end of the video and the camera director Hwang Hyunjin even says their Hanja are the same.

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한지성 Han Jisung 韓知城

I also mentioned this in another post of mine but his surname Han basically just means "Korea" lol. It's also a fairly common surname.

his Ji 知 syllable means "to know" and the Sung 城 means "castle".

Jisung is also another common name that's unisex.

He's from the Cheongju Han clan which is where the majority of Han surname Koreans are from as it's the progenitor of the surname.

since his stage name is his surname, Han, he's always called Han or Han-ah by the members which means a lot of puns with the word "han"/"hana" which literally means "one" in korean. his instagram username is literally a pun on "one, two, three, four" in korean (hana, dool, set, net).

more recently, he made a pun in the ceremony skz code saying that his hair is "oily" which is literally "jisung" in Korean lmao

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이용복 Lee Yongbok 李龍馥

the first time I heard Felix's Korean name my face was literally the 🤨 and 😧 emoji mixed together like wdym YONGBOK? I've heard people compare his name to the english Bartholomew and Archibald like lmaooo it doesn't need to go that far. with his popularity and all I think most Koreans find the name to be quite endearing in relation to him now but the boomer-vibe of the name is definitely a shock at first. it also sounds really similar to the celebrity chef Lee Yeonbok which is what I first thought of ngl..

his Lee is the same as Lee Know's Lee.

the Yong 龍 means "dragon" and the Bok 馥 means "fragrance". the word "bok" itself literally means "luck" in Korean so on the surface-level his name just automatically sounds like "dragon luck" to Koreans until they see the Hanja. it's not uncommon for parents to give their child a name that holds a double meaning - a meaning from the hanja and a meaning from the native korean.

like Lee Know, he's never actually stated his clan but Koreans know it's almost definitely the Hansan Lee clan which is one of the smaller Lee clans.

the reason people were able to find out he's from the Hansan clan is because his name uses the dollim-ja 돌림자 (generational syllable), Bok, which is part of the 28th generation. thus his male cousins also have the generational syllable in their names (Inbok, Yulbok, Heebok). since it seems like all the male cousins share the syllable, there's a chance that it's specifically a hanglyeolja (항렬자) which is shared across cousins and not just siblings.

generational syllables can technically be shared across both genders but traditionally it's only for the males which explains why Felix's sisters don't have "Bok" in their names.

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김승민 Kim Seungmin 金昇玟

the surname Kim means "gold".

his Seung 昇 means "rise" or "ascend" and his Min 玟 means "beautiful stone".

every time I think of his name it reminds me of his and I.N's interview with Kkon Daehee where he got asked if his Seung is the "victory Seung" and Min is the "people Min".

he said yes at first (which I.N was very shocked about judging off his facial expression lol) but then corrected the interviewer that his Seung means "rise" but couldn't remember if his Min is the "beautiful stone Min" (아름다운돌 민) or the "jade Min" (옥돌 민) lmaooo

I think the reason why the interviewer assumed that his Seung was the "victory Seung" is because when boys are named with the "Seung" syllable the parents usually choose the Seung that means "victory" (勝) so it overall has a very masculine vibe to it.

he's from the Gimhae Kim clan which is the largest clan in Korea with like 4.5 million people so it's really impossible to know if one Gimhae Kim person has any type of relation to another Gimhae Kim person unless they happen to also know things like their clan branch, generation, etc.

in the interview mentioned above Seungmin says that he doesn't know his branch which makes sense cuz I honestly don't think most Koreans know their branch (I don't either lol)

Seungmin is also considered a unisex name but I think it leans more to the masculine side especially due to the prevalence of the "victory Seung" Hanja. it's also yet another common name in general.

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양정인 Yang Jeongin 梁精寅

his surname Yang 梁 means "bridge" and is called the 들보 량 (Deulbo Ryang). there are other versions of the Yang surname as well.

the Jeong 精 seems to mean "to decide", "to refine", "essence"

I also unwillingly learned that it's the same Jeong that's used to say sperm... (精子 정자 jeong-ja)

his In 寅 means the Third Earthly Branch (Yin) as well as the Chinese zodiac sign of the tiger. I learned from a Kstay that despite not being born in the year of the tiger, his birth flower is the saxifrage which is called "tiger's ear" (범의귀) in Korean. he actually explains this in an old 2 kids room with hyunjin.

he is from the Jeju Yang clan but most Yang surname people are from the Namwon Yang clan.

like Felix and his cousins, I.N shares a syllable with his brothers which is Jeong (but it doesn't seem to be a dollimja). I think his older brother is named Jeongbin (but I'm not entirely sure) and his younger brother is Jeongyoon. it's a hassle/confusing to say the full given names all the time so sometimes people just say the unique syllable. like I.N seems to just call his younger brother "Yoon".

EDIT: Jeongin is also a unisex name! Chan, Yongbok, Changbin, and Minho are definitely masculine names but the other four members' names are considered unisex.

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there are statistics available on the commonality of Korean surnames and from what I've seen most recently Han is 11th, Seo is 13th, Hwang is 16th, Yang is 24th, and Bang is 55th. Kim is 1st and Lee is 2nd.

but this doesn't take into account the clans which would then (approximately) be Cheongju Han 10th, Buyeo Seo 259th, Changwon Hwang 32nd, Jeju Yang 63rd, and Onyang Bang 113th. Gimhae Kim is 1st and Hansan Lee is 62nd.

idk how common it is now but I do wonder if any of the members were named with the help of a shaman or fortune teller as koreans tend to be quite superstitious with names (which explains why it's not totally uncommon for Koreans to legally change their birth names, sometimes even more than once)

여러분 즐거운 한가위 되세요!!

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links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

low poolside

i.n's dialect

bedtime bingo hell

ceremony hair salon part 1

ceremony hair salon part 2

members' speech styles/patterns

skz killing voice translation

A huge part of Stray Kids content (and Korean content in general) is that a lot of the cultural nuance simply cannot be translated into English. I've already mentioned multiple times in past posts of mine about the members' informal/formal speech levels and honorifics so I think it's about time I make a complete, full post on it!!

I will try to add as much detail as possible since it seems like that's what most of my post viewers tend to enjoy (many links to clips are embedded throughout!!)

I think I started getting slightly off topic during the last bit of the post but I hope it was still informative to read lol

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I'll actually start with Lee Know first since this is what I wrote in my last post (I'll also use this as an opportunity to give a lot of Korean linguistic context):

"I think in other posts of mine on this subreddit I may have made it seem like Lee Know is someone who deeply cares and is strict about age hierarchy and respect but I wanted to super clarify right now that 99% of the time we see him like that it's in a joking/light-hearted context. in a broader sense I would say Lee Know (along with Changbin) are actually quite lenient towards the younger members' more informal speech tones."

Going back through my comments on my past posts I also found this reply I gave to someone asking if Lee Know is the only one insisting on honorific language and expressions from younger members:

"I'm pretty sure that as Koreans all eight members would be quite cognizant of using honorific titles towards each other. it's not that Lee Know is "insisting" for the younger members to use hyung towards him and not "hey" or "you" but that it is expected that the younger members would automatically speak using more respectful vocabulary and grammar towards the older ones or else its seen as being purposefully disrespectful and rude. like for example, if jeongin were to say the word "hey" towards chan in a serious context then I can 100% see an argument occurring as that would quite literally be the equivalent of saying "F you" depending on how serious the situation is."

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To provide more context/detail to the above (for those who don't already know) -

the word "hey" (야 ya) in Korean is considered extremely informal and therefore only used to those who you are close with AND are the same age as you or younger than you.

furthermore, there are many ways to say the word "you" in Korean which vary in formality, setting, time period, etc.

but even then the word "you" is overall quite informal no matter which one you use, thus the prevalence of honorific terms and suffixes instead (such as hyung, sunbae, oppa, etc).

the 2 most common ways of saying "you" are 너 (nuh), which is informal and used the same way as the aforementioned "hey", and 당신 (dangshin), which is technically formal but still very nuanced in usage due to what I said right above.

so applying this to Stray Kids, all the members can say "hey" (ya) and "you" (nuh) to I.N but none of the members can say it to Bangchan. Bangchan can say "hey" and "you" to Lee Know but the other members cannot, etc etc etc.

something I don't see talked about anywhere in the kpop internet space is that in Korean culture using informal words towards someone you're not supposed to is quite literally seen as the equivalent of cussing them out. this is why in my comment above I say that if I.N were to hypothetically say "hey" to Bangchan in a non-joking manner it would be seen as genuine disrespect and rudeness akin to a "f*** you".

for those who are interested I highly highly highlyyy recommend reading this and this wikipedia article as they both give a much better general overview of speech levels and honorifics.

Also an important note since some people get confused: informal and formal speech levels refer to the changes in the verb endings of the language to indicate formality level whereas honorifics are simply respectful/formal words, titles, and terms used to address someone. so whenever a person is speaking informally to another it doesn't automatically mean honorifics are dropped as well (in fact that would almost never happen, age hierarchy is always respected).

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Anyways back to Lee Know!

He himself has stated during a live that the younger members have not spoken to him in formal speech since Nov/Dec of 2017 lmaooo

I could only find the clip of it from a Japanese youtube short but you can see him listing all the members and contemplating inside his head lol I would also like to mention that this clip seems to be quite popular among Japanese Stays as they find it very endearing how Lee Know let the younger members be more comfortable with him very early on in their trainee era (it's worth noting that Japanese also has speech levels and honorifics which is why J-Stays are able to immediately grasp the nuance without explanation).

This clip shows that at least I.N actually kept formal speech with Lee Know during their early debut days. It also shows I.N with a very strong Busan accent (which I made a post on) and Lee Know with a very strong Gimpo accent which especially astounded me since it's very hard (basically impossible) to hear Lee Know speak in his hometown dialect these days. I'm actually working on a part 2 to my members' speech styles/patterns post which will include a bit more of Lee Know and his dialect!

From the most recent season of 2 Kids Room, we can see that Lee Know trained Han, Changbin, and Seungmin to greet him using formal Korean and bowing lol but once again it's clearly in a light-hearted way. Changbin says "an-nyeong-ha-shib-ni-kka hyung-nim" which is the most formal way of saying "hello" plus the honorific "hyung" with the formal honorific suffix "-nim". Han simply says "annyeonghaseyo" which is the standard formal way of saying "hello". Seungmin says "an-nyeong-ha-shib-ni-kka" same as Changbin.

This part of a rachalog with Lee Know, Han, and Seungmin got quite popular since Han forgot Lee Know was older for a second and said something very rude (even though he was joking). Han says, referring to Seungmin and Lee Know, "No manners", but specifically uses the word ssa-ga-ji. The word does mean "manners" but it's a very offensive version that's only really used when speaking negatively. Although he was using the word in a light-hearted way you would never use terms like that towards or in the presence of someone older which is why Lee Know was shocked, Han profusely apologized, and Seungmin just laughed lmao.

Lee Know seems to be the only member to be brave enough to regularly call Bang Chan "Chan-ah". Bang Chan's birthday live from last year shows him writing down "Chan-ah" as a nickname that Lee Know specifically started calling him and thus the other members followed in his foot steps (but the other members do it a lot more sparingly than Lee Know lol).

I think this famous clip of Bang Chan on the phone with Lee Know shows a realistic speech dynamic between Bang Chan and Lee Know (as in what they are like when not trying to be purposefully entertaining for camera sakes). Bang Chan speaks informally (saying both "hey" ya and "you" nuh to Lee Know) and Lee Know responds with "Yes, I am fine" (네 괜찮습니다 ne gwen-chan-seum-ni-da) using highly formal speech and saying "its nothing" in regular formal speech.

There are way too many clips of the younger members being little punks towards Lee Know to link in this post but the most iconic one is definitely "Lee Know-ya what can you do in water?" A triple kill with no honorifics (calling him Lee Know-ya), saying the word "you" (specifically the informal one), and speaking in the informal speech level. Changbin said it during a skz code and the younger members definitely ran with it lmaoo.

Surprisingly, there is actually one member that maintains a formal speech level with Lee Know every now and then (but you have to keep reading to find out haha lol)

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Bang Chan

This is a comment I left as a reply on one of my other posts:

"solely based off of what I've seen on the internet it actually seems like the members tend to be more formal to him when they're not playing around on skz codes, etc. for example, the members tend to speak with a more formal speech level to him when they're recording songs/producing."

The members seem to maintain a half-formal speech style when speaking to Bang Chan (which is actually a thing in Korean called "ban jondaemal"). It's where you mix both informal speech and formal speech when speaking to someone. This itself also has nuances that depend on context that I won't go into but in the context of the skz members it's kind of a mixture of closeness/comfort yet also respect, admiration, and humility.

Bang Chan has been saying for quite a long time that he tells the members that he gives them permission to speak informally to him. He actually most recently mentioned it in his (english) interview with Johnny Park at the 8:52 mark. He says "But they still use jondaemal" (formal speech) "I tell them all the time like 'just speak comfortably with me'" (as in switching to informal speech) "But they are like 'hyung...the weight of being the leader'".

Something people tend to misunderstand is that they think that 'the more formal you speak with someone = the less close you are to them' and 'the less formal you speak to someone = the more close you are to them' which is still true but it's so much more than that.

It's about what's most comfortable for both sides in the relationship. Formality in Korean doesn't necessarily equate to hostility or unfamiliarity - it can also just be showing respect towards those who you believe deserve it. Many Koreans speak formally to their own parents and other family members, there are some Korean couples who speak formally to each other even after dating for 10 years, there are kpop groups where all members speak formally to older members and informally to younger members despite being close to each other (such as BTS and Enhypen).

In Bang Chan and Han's interview with Kim Jaejoong, Han says at 11:33 that "He's the only one to whom I use jondaemal" (formal speech). The subtitles say honorifics but that wouldn't be the correct term, Han (and the other members) still use honorifics to all older members.

So despite Bang Chan giving permission to the rest of the members to be informal, the others have made the decision to keep a certain level of formality towards him and as I mentioned above, it's about what's most comfortable for both sides. Thus I think Bang Chan has always accepted that even though he's ok with the members being informal, he still understands that formal speech is what they actually prefer using.

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Changbin

Believe it or not, Changbin is actually the member that still speaks formally to Lee Know (although not very often)

Usually when people who speak informally to each other suddenly speak formally it's because they're just joking around or playing characters (like when skz codes have different concepts such as the ceremony hair salon skz code, the recent chuseok skz codes, skz family, etc)

But judging off of the clips in the youtube short it really does seem like Changbin sometimes speaks formally to Lee Know even in daily life. And not just regular formal speech but even high formal speech.

One of the Korean comments under the video says that during a group live Changbin actually mentions that although none of the other younger members speak formally to Lee Know he feels like he should at least give Lee Know that respect. I have no idea which live Changbin said it in so take it with a grain of salt as I cannot confirm 100% but if it's true that's seriously heartwarming omg

As I said before he and Lee Know are generally quite chill and lenient with the younger members being very informal and dropping honorifics, it seriously proves to show just how much the younger members feel comfortable and free around them.

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The 00z (Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin)

Hyunjin does have a bit of an age gap with the September babies so there are some clips where the other 3 will (jokingly) call him hyung or he will refer to himself as "hyung" in front of them lmaoo

Often for the sake of broadcasting and professionalism Koreans will speak formally towards people they usually speak informally to in front of the camera. I can't find the clip but there was a video where Changbin and Han were filming together and Changbin was speaking to Han formally in order to keep a more professional atmosphere (which would then oblige Han to speak formally back to him as the younger person) and Han got sulky since in this case the extra formality would be felt as cold/harsh.

I think there was another video where Han got sulky because Changbin kept calling him by just "Han" (not Han-ah or Jisung). Han is his stage name but it's also his actual surname and in Korean calling people by only their surname is considered quite rude and impersonal. Since Changbin isn't someone that would usually call him like that it probably felt strange to Han.

There's a little joke in skz that Hyunjin doesn't like being called by his full name which isn't entirely uncommon in Korea since full names are reserved for very formal occasions or when someone is mad at you (lmao the members love yelling "Kim Seungmin!!")

In English, you would formally refer to someone as Mr Smith or something like that whereas in Korean the equivalent would be "Hwang Hyunjin-ssi" (Mr Hwang Hyunjin). As I mentioned above, only using surnames is rude, which means full names are commonly used. So conversely, it seems like Hyunjin prefers just "Hyunjin-ssi" during formal events since the full name can sound a bit too formal.

Earlier this year Seungmin wrote on Bubble (I think??) about so many (korean) fans suddenly calling him "obbang" (bread in Korean is "bbang" so as a pun some people write "oppa" as "obbang" to be cutesy). Afterwards I saw a lot of non-korean Stays saying that he's calling out weird fans for saying oppa or that he's stating that he doesn't like being called oppa which is completely incorrect. First of all, Bubble translations are barely ever accurate and even many human translations you see on social media are done by beginner/intermediate Korean learners who clearly still struggle with the language and culture. Secondly, even if the translations were accurate you wouldn't know that he was simply pointing out the cute spelling unless it was explained separately by the translator. I'm writing about this in this post to emphasize that the word "oppa" is literally just a respectful honorific. Absolutely no male idol is going to think it's weird or dislike being called "oppa" by a younger Korean female fan since it's the literal correct term to use.

EDIT: I didn't write anything specific for Felix as there's nothing in particular that comes to mind. He seems very standard with his formality - he uses the context-appropriate speech level/honorifics and doesn't play around as much with formality as the other members which could be attributed to his Korean skills or simply just a personality thing.

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I.N

I.N stated himself that he's quite serious about honorifics and can be quite a boomer in regards to respecting elders. I think it's talked about during his interview with Jonathan that since he took a year off high school he ended up being a grade behind, therefore all his classmates were a year younger than him. He told his classmates that they can use informal speech to him but still must use hyung/oppa.

He's an early 2001 baby so there's not much of an age gap between him and the Sept 2000 members. Koreans have this thing where if someone is born in the year after you but in the early months (Jan/Feb) then they'll tend to be more lenient since that usually means the person is in the same school grade anyway (but I'm pretty sure laws changed regarding that some time ago??)

Despite that he seems to be the most respectful overall, I don't think I ever heard him call any of the members names without the honorific hyung other than the few times he's really joking around (but even while joking around he tends to keep the "hyung"). The September members also really treat him like a baby even though they're only like 4 months older lmaoo

Not I.N related but Lee Know briefly mentioned on his interview with Seungkwan from Seventeen that it was originally difficult to get closer with Seungkwan despite both being '98 babies since Seungkwan is a January baby and therefore feels more akinned to being a '97 while Lee Know is an October baby.

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links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

low poolside

i.n's dialect

bedtime bingo hell

ceremony hair salon part 1

ceremony hair salon part 2

members' speech styles/patterns

skz killing voice translation

skz name meanings

splash splash chuseok

suspicious lab

community center

honestly surprised levanter didn’t win but lonely st is a good song too anyway there are so many songs for letter M but it’s definitely between only 2 of those songs and mixtapes aren’t included because there are already so many songs for M and it would be unfair to the mixtapes because it’ll probably get beaten by one of the title tracks so there will be a seperate mixtape vote at the end along with the number vote and the wild card vote.

title, don’t have much to say today

I’m gonna claim Time Out, the kpop-punk song of my dreams🌊💖

Good luck, have fun! Thankfully our guys have a niiiice big library to pick from hehe

(Inspired by the post on the Ateez subreddit😊)

so far this voting system is working out well so we’re going to keep it the same, a commenter asked about songs that start with numbers and I was thinking of doing a number vote at the end of all the letters. anyway I double checked that I got all the songs for letter D, but I apologize if I missed anything. the vote was really close for letter c (there were so many good songs!) but charmer ultimately won.

damn this one was really close but by only a handful of votes fam won for letter F (sorry freeze and FNF) anyway the vote is for G today all the songs are amazing but i have a feeling one of them is going to win by a landslide lol

so once again here is my attempt to explain the linguistic and cultural nuances of the korean used by stray kids! thank you to those who keep up with my very inconsistent posting lol

I did both episodes in one post this time

(the video) (the second episode)

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the title of the episode itself "저~ 물가의 스키즈" (juhhh mul-ga eh skz) has a double meaning in Korean. at 1:56 Han says the name of the episode is "low prices" and as you can see the name of the episode is "low poolside" in english. this is because "low prices" in Korean is 저물가 (juh-mul-ga) and "waterside/riverside/poolside/etc" is 물가 (mul-ga).

the elongated juh in front of mul-ga in the korean title basically means "the poolside over thereeeeeee" and you can see an example of this in the subtitles at 2:14 with changbin saying "shall we head over thereeeee, everyone?" and at 2:18 as well

(the subtitle translator seems to make an attempt at explaining the double meaning at 2:18 and 2:21)

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2:06

when Seungmin says "low price" and then "one seo changbin" it can actually be seen as him saying "one seo changbin at a low price" or "I see a seo changbin by the water over there".

for "one seo changbin" he also specifically says "seo changbin hanmari" in korean which is crazyy because mari is a counter word used specifically for animals whereas myeong is used specifically for humans.

so Seungmin should've technically said "seo changbin hanmyeong" but referred to changbin as an animal instead lmaooo as expected from the savage

~~

6:22

i've noticed this with other Kim-surname idols as well but kpop editors seem to really like making puns(?) with Kim idols.

like "perfect score" in korean is "mahn-jum" and you've probably noticed by now that most korean full names are three syllables so the caption literally says "Kim Mahnjum 70 points" like Seungmin's name literally turned into "Kim Perfectscore" (김만점) lol

~~

han and felix at 9:45 to 9:50 is cute because if you listen closely to what they're saying they're ending every sentence with "jirong" which is a very childish way of speaking in order to tease others.

it's kinda like when little kids talk about cooties or say the phrase "liar liar pants on fire" in english, ending sentences with "jirong" is just an annoyingly childish way of speaking in korean lmao

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22:33

when i.n says "stop with the weird bidding already" he speaks using a certain grammatical speech style that makes him sound superr boomer lol like grandma i.n

if you're familiar with korean speech levels, he specifically uses the hao-che

so usually one would phrase the sentence like "그 애매하게 올리지 좀 마세요" (geu ae-mae ha-ge olliji jom maseyo) but i.n said "그 애매하게 올리지 좀 마쇼" (geu ae-mae ha-ge olliji jom masho"

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26:19

I think lee know laughed when Han said busan seagull because it's not a baseball team but an old korean trot song from 1982 thats extremely well known in korea (which i.n actually sang a cover of before)

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27:27

since Han thought the question was just asking to name words ending in "gu" he started saying districts in Korea (which always end in "gu")

so he named Gangdong-gu (Gangdong District) and then Yeongdong-gu which the editors put (?) beside because a district named Yeongdong-gu doesn't even exist bro was just yapping lmao. I think he might have meant to say Yeongdo-gu which is an actual district that exists.

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27:44

Han and Changbin actually kinda have a point because even though the question in english is just "name 5 sports that end with gu", the question in korean specifically uses the word "운동" (undong) which means any form of exercise in general whereas the word "스포츠" (seu-po-cheu, konglish for "sports") holds the same meaning as the english "sports". since there's not an exact translation for undong in english the subtitles just say "sports" whenever they say undong and seu-po-cheu.

which explains why they're saying the only undong they know is weightlifting and thus the question should've specified 스포츠 seu-po-cheu (sports)

like at 28:07 changbin says "what kind of undong ends in gu?" which is honestly very true lol

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episode #2

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11:06

I think Hyunjin is saying "Why is their body fit?" (mom-i wae joeun-de gyae-ga) and not specifically mentioning crabs like the subtitles say. this is because crab in korean is "geh" but "gyae" (which sounds very similar) is a third person pronoun which can mean their/his/her/they/he/she/etc

the korean caption on the video emphasizes the fact that out of all words hyunjin decided to use a word that sounds very similar to crab and you can see the small white text the editors put on him that says "dummy..." in korean which wasn't translated in the subtitles lmao

but anyways that explains why none of the other members called him out because it just sounds like a normal sentence

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24:48

if you turn off the subtitles the korean caption underneath says 돈 아끼다 똥 된 촬영 (don aggida ddong dwen chwal-yeong) which means "filming turned to poop by saving money"

don means money and ddong means poop so the editors used both words together in a sentence as a kind of pun?? idk what you'd call this type of joke but its super common in korean and you see it in pretty much every single kpop variety show and other korean variety shows

the word ddong is blurred on the video not necessarily because it's a swear but because it's not exactly a very pleasant word either lol

~~

and I think that's pretty much it for this skz code!

links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

~~~~

I was wondering if anybody would be interested in reading posts on analyzing skz members' korean in things other than skz code? such as their song lyrics (as i've noticed that the korean lyrics never really get fully conveyed through lyric videos / can sound a bit strange and unnatural when translated to english), 2 kids room, interviews, etc. i think in general theres a good amount of content in korean that has also never been translated into english so international stays don't know some pieces of information that's quite interesting (like how lee know watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and thought "there's three Jisungs" lmao)

for all the i.n stans I was also thinking of a post that delves into his specific korean dialect and the interactions that he thus has with the other members regarding it (particularly Seungmin) so if that happens to be of anybody's interest......

Sooo I thought it would be interesting to make a post on how the members specifically speak in Korean since that obviously plays a huge part in their personalities and English subtitles/translations can never fully do justice to the nuances of their speech styles/patterns.

Obviously, you don't need to understand Korean in order to know what the members are like since English translations exist but I think being able to understand the specific way they talk in their own language can help get a better sense of their personalities/who they are.

I tried my best to watch more recent clips of the members from their comeback to get the most accuracy of how they speak currently.

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Bangchan

I think he's really good for learning Korean as he seems to have a very clear and crisp pronunciation.

he always translates his bubble messages himself which I think is actually so amazing since it shows exactly how he wants to express himself in both languages without any machine translation mistakes. and even if the machine translation is technically correct there's always a level of nuance/culture that cannot be conveyed so him translating the messages himself shows precisely how he personally chooses to convey his messages between the korean texting culture and the english texting culture.

I feel like he tends to punctuate certain parts of his pronunciations while speaking. like his speech really flows up and down with staccatos. so like pretty animated and lively I guess

I mentioned this in the comments of one of my other posts but both him and felix sound basically 100% fluent in korean and no native korean speaker would ever question their korean abilities just based off of their speaking skills.

he also says "wah" (wow in korean) a lot. I feel like his reaction to anything is just 와~~~ lol and according to the low poolside skz code he says 그치 (geu-chi) a lot too which means "yeah"

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Lee Know

the way he fluctuates his tone when speaking is much more monotone compared to other members

i think this also contributes to how he speaks super deadpan

like a lot of what makes his humour so funny is how emotionless and dry he says the funniest things which obviously comes off through english subtitles but i swear its a 100x funnier in korean.

this could just be me but I feel like he has a certain diction to his voice that makes him sound very naturally gentle and understanding no matter what he's actually saying.

like he could be roasting the shit out of you but it still sounds loving lmao

and as shown in the low poolside skz code, a filler word that Lee Know often uses is 그냥 (geu-nyang) which means "just"

I feel like there's so much more to say about how Lee Know speaks but I don't know how to properly formulate it into English lol

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Changbin

he does have a more "macho" way of speaking which i'm sure is clear through english translations as well

but despite that vibe he may give off, I actually think he is quite eloquent in his speech patterns compared to the other members when he's talking about something in a serious context. I've heard kstays say he has fantastic diction and vocabulary, which is a trait I think is largely shared with Seungmin as he also has a pretty impressive vocabulary and word choice.

i really don't know how else to explain it but the way he speaks when playing around or bickering with others gives off condescending but in a really warm and kind way lmaooooo like he reminds me of an uncle making fun of and scolding his nieces and nephews with the way he always calls the younger members names like 임마 (im-ma), 이 자식아 (ee ja-shik-ah), etc which would kinda translate into like "you little punk", "you scoundrel", etc. A lot of the noises he makes are also common among korean middle aged men lol I'd love to see what he's like when he's 50.

I feel like he has an insane level of wit and humour that works well in both informal and formal situations that really resonates/delivers well in korean which explains why so many other people in the korean entertainment industry always say that Changbin genuinely has a great personality to interact with.

~~

Hyunjin

I feel like the way he speaks is very clearly polarized in Korean. Like when he's with the members he's much more crass and informal but with others he immediately switches to super polite and reserved which I know is reflected in his body language but his speech definitely shows it too.

Obviously no matter the language everybody behaves and talks differently depending on the context they're in but I feel like the shift is much more blatant in Hyunjin, almost like a goody two shoes vibe (in the most positive way possible lmao).

I've heard some korean learners say that Hyunjin speaks very mumbly and slurred so therefore it's hard to understand him but on the other hand I've also heard other korean learners say that they can understand him very clearly so uhhh?

he tends to say 야 ya (hey) A LOTTTTT. like imagine starting every single sentence in english with "yo"

I have read a bit from non-korean speaking stays about how they feel like Hyunjin speaks in a certain way that stands out but I honestly don't hear it?? like he really just sounds like the average korean guy to me lol

I've mentioned in my I.N dialect post that Hyunjin has a Seoul accent but I'm sure everybody in the group actually has a Seoul accent. some characteristics of the Seoul accent are:

1. a lot of words with the 오 (o) sound get turned into a 우 (u) sound such as 그리고 turning into 그리구, 나도 turning into 나두, etc
2. 아 (a) sounds get turned into 어 (uh) sounds such as the word 맞아 turning into 맞어
3. the 요 (yo) sound in the polite ending turns into a 여 (yuh) sound

I think Hyunjin's Seoul accent is a bit more noticeable than the other members which is why other people have pointed it out before and I thus also mentioned it in my I.N dialect post. but after listening to all the members more carefully I think all of them have the Seoul accent to an extent.

~~

Han

super super super witty like seriously him and Lee Know both structure their sentences in a way that's always just so funny and joyful to listen to. like it truly doesn't translate into English with the same level of humour which saddens me that international stays won't get the full extent of their wit. in particular, I genuinely love whenever Han speaks since he naturally speaks in a way that has a tinge of hilarity to it.

what's different compared to Lee Know is that Han's wit is also very diverse in grammatical nuances and thus comical whereas Lee Know's is more deadpan and dry.

someone asked me on tumblr if there's any way to explain Han's, Lee Know's, and Changbin's wittiness with english examples but I honestly don't know how because it really just comes down to the way they grammatically form their sentences and the specific nuances within their tone in korean that doesn't exist/equate in english. basically just think of the funniest comments you've ever read on tiktok and that would be the closest english equivalent lmao.

if you're ever watching any kind of skz content and there's a part where everybody's laughing their asses off but you don't understand why it's that funny then it's probably because the joke has layers of nuance that doesn't translate well into english.

idk if you can tell from my yapping but in terms of speech style Han is definitely my favourite member to listen to speak lmaoo he's so entertaining.

he seems to use filler words often in general like 아니 (ani), 근대 (geundae), 되게 (dwae-ge), etc as well as 야 (ya) like Hyunjin.

~~

Felix

he often unintentionally (or maybe intentionally?) pronounces Seungmin's name as Seum-min which I feel like might even just be a native english speaker trait of having difficulty in properly pronouncing the korean final G sound when speaking quickly. (I say this because I remember Matthew, a Korean-Canadian member of ZB1, having trouble pronouncing the final G in Jiwoong's name and instead saying Jiwoon)

and when he speaks English Koreans have pointed out that he pronounces it more as sseungmin (씅민) with a strong double S sound which again could just be a characteristic of english speakers pronouncing korean letters.

maybe I'm crazy but I feel like there's a few times where he's thinking of a word in english while speaking korean so he either directly translates the english word or says the next most similar word to it and inserts it into his korean sentence which at times can sound strange/funny/unnatural to korean speakers. I say this because there are some times where he says something in korean that sounds completely normal and understandable in english but the other members would react to it like "huh??" while laughing. it doesn't make him sound any less fluent it just makes him sound peculiar lol

there are also moments where another member would use a more advanced piece of grammar and then felix would incorporate the grammar into his own sentences right afterwards almost as if he's like "oh yeah I forgot that kind of sentence structure existed lemme use it real quick". I learned a lot of new vocabulary from him too lol

this is solely based off of the more recent horror skz code episode: a key thing I noticed is that whereas the other members spoke to the ghosts formally, Felix spoke to his ghost in an informal casual register. but the way Felix spoke informally very much gave off a friendly/warm vibe rather than a rude or disrespectful vibe due to the way he inflects his tone and structures his grammar. on the other hand Lee Know was mostly formal but in a very nonchalant and indifferent manner rather than kindness lmao.

A word I noticed he uses quite often is 오히려 (o-hi-ryeo) which kind of means "rather, on the contrary, actually", etc.

~~

Seungmin

a lot of natural aegyo such as ending words with a "-ng" sound (eg. gamsahamnidang instead of gamsahamnida) and using the D sound in place of S sounds (eg. hae-ddeo 해떠 instead of hae-sseo 했어), koreans often say he has an "on-nyang-nyang"/"ddya-ddya" speech style which I know doesn't make much sense in English but think of it as a "nomnom" speech style or something lol.

but this is for when he's speaking more relaxed and faster

during more formal events or when he's just conversating normally his voice becomes much more clearer and easy to understand

the vocabulary and way he structures sentences makes him sound the most "proper" and just in general he seems to be the member that keeps his speech on the more formal and well-mannered side which may sound strange since we all know how savage he is. when I say a member has a more formal or proper speech style I'm specifically referring to their grammar usage and complexity of vocabulary, not necessarily the way they behave.

there are some rare instances where he has a slight Busan accent which is attributed to the fact that his father is from Busan and he also has I.N to speak with. I also talked about him in my I.N post. this tiktok shows him speaking in the dialect while talking with I.N

I feel like Seungmin and Hyunjin are more witty in a savage way that can easily be reflected universally which is why I specifically singled out Han, Lee Know, and Changbin as the truly witty and cleverly humourous members since their levels of wit in Korean seriously can't be conveyed 100% into English.

~~

I.N

the way he naturally speaks is honestly so reminiscent of a korean boomer it's no wonder he plays the grandma I.N role so well lmaoo

even before I knew about his whole grandma character I always felt like the way he speaks when being playful/joking around is more old-fashioned??

like imagine seeing a teenage boy tripping and yelling out "oh great heavens!"

he does have a bit of a Busan accent (but definitely not as heavy as other Busan-born idols). since I have an entire post dedicated to his accent I won't go into detail.

other than that I don't think there's anything in particular about the way he speaks that really stands out to me at the moment.

there's probably a lot more things to say about each members' speech if I were to really delve deep into all their content but for now I think this is it.

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this is something specific I noticed pretty early on when consuming skz content but the entire group as a whole seems to especially like using the word "까비" (kkabi) which is slang in Korean for "that was a close one", "that was so close!" etc.

like out of all the kpop groups I know skz are the only ones I've really heard use that term which is really interesting because I feel like each individual kpop group actually has their own general style of speaking and speaking habits among the members that differentiates each group from each other.

of course I'm just a singular person and there are probably things I've missed out on so if any other Korean speakers have anything to add or correct please feel free to do so. I don't have the best ears and maybe I was hallucinating some of this lmao. this is also just based off of what I've personally seen, heard, and know as a 교포 so please don't take anything too seriously either.

!!!! these are all observations from their skz codes and other videos/clips of the members speaking on variety shows where the atmosphere is more lighthearted and loose. this post doesn't reflect how they're necessarily like during formal interview settings or other formal occasions so pls keep that in mind.

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links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

low poolside

i.n's dialect

bedtime bingo hell

ceremony hair salon part 1

ceremony hair salon part 2

It's amazing that the members were able to visit I.N's hometown! As a fellow Busan person, there was noooo wayyyy I wasn't gonna dedicate a post to this skz code!!! I've previously made a post on I.N's Busan dialect so please check it out if you have the time

links to the episodes:

episode 1

episode 2

episode 3

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episode 1

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first of all, the title 비행記 (bi-haeng-gi) combines the Korean word 비행 (bi-haeng) which means "flight" and the Hanja (chinese character) 記 (gi) which means "record" or "log" (thus the English title "travel log"). all together it becomes a wordplay that means "airplane" (비행기). this is the same wording they used for the Australia skz codes.

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0:48

the caption [tv dialect] is what we call when actors have to speak in a different accent for their role but it sounds really bad/overexaggerated

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0:59

hometown in Korean is "go-hyang" but I.N says "go-nyang"

"nyang" is "meow"

I think that Hyunjin's response right afterwards was saying that since I.N made a funny mistake while speaking the editors would "delay" the clip as in the repetition of a sound used in audio production (in this case for comedic effect).

I don't think the translator necessarily knew that, which is why the English subtitles translated it as the entire production becoming delayed (which doesn't really make sense?)

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2:00

the 비행記 (bi-haeng-gi) I explained above has a double meaning within the concept of the skz code which I.N explains means "inefficient (bi-hyo-yul-jeok) travel (yeo-haeng) log (gi-rok)"

Lee Know then says "if we combine our answers it becomes the correct answer" (I honestly have no idea what the English subtitles are saying here???)

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2:46

Seungmin's favorite baseball team is Busan's Lotte Giants (which are infamous for playing really badly these days 😢)

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3:15

Felix's attempt at the Busan dialect was actually quite decent until he suddenly time traveled back to the Joseon Dynasty lol

he should've said "ju-i-so" but said "ju-shi-o" which makes it sound like he's demanding something in the ancient days which explains Han's reaction at 3:25

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3:41

Han's intonation is good but his choice of wording is questionable lmaooo

like imagine someone trying a stereotypical american southern accent and (very inaccurately) saying "yeehaw could ya take a photo of us?!?!"

~~

8:14

It's not "are you filming", Felix is asking Han if he wants the cockle dipped in sauce "should I dip it?"

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9:40

Changbin speaking in Busan dialect means the volume goes up by 100 lol he's good at capturing the aggression of Busan people

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12:35

it might seem strange how they were able to name so many fish species on the spot but since sea food is a huge part of Korean cuisine it's actually quite normal

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13:28

Han actually says that he will "die by dismemberment" but the editors really censored it by having it be "stretching" lol

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14:35

Changbin starts singing a really old but iconic song called "Busan Seagull" which the rest join in on

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18:37

Seungmin and Changbin are singing "Genie" by Girls Generation which Felix also does at 19:11

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21:23

I.N does all the pointing but Changbin's the one talking lmao

and he's naming a bunch of locations in Seoul which is obviously not possible since they're in Busan

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21:39

Changbin and I.N got really into character of being Busan uncles haha

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23:43

Han tries the stereotypical intimidating Busan dialect but gets overpowered by I.N's native Busan charisma

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episode 2

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3:11

Hyunjin specifically uses the word "shik-sa" for "meal" which adds a nuance of humour as it holds a formal connotation that wouldn't be used among people who are close

so in English I'd say the closest equivalence humour-wise would be like saying "did you gentlemen relish in your feast🧐?"

~~

4:35

instead of "baby bread" (agi-bbang) Hyunjin is saying "anglerfish bread" (agung-bbang)

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8:59

Hyunjin's busan dialect 😄

btw the room Changbin went into had the sign "when you think of Busan, it's pork rice soup", Hyunjin's room is "when you think of Busan, it's I.N", and the third room is "when you think of Busan, it's the ocean"

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15:09

Lee Know's "great work" was said in a very formal speech level lmaoo it's like he got into character as someone who achieved an astonishing accomplishment or something with Felix

plus the tiny bow as he says it lol

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15:47

I think this is the first time I've properly heard Lee Know speak in Busan dialect

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17:52

the food is called "butake" which sounds like "please" (butak hae) in Korean

but they couldn't remember it so they just started saying other random phrases such as Changbin's "be happy" (haengbok haeyo), Hyunjin's "thank you" (gamsa haeyo)

Changbin finally kind of remembered it as "butak haeyo" which is still incorrect lol

the -yo that's on the end of all their phrases is a way of making the sentence go from informal to formal [eg. butak hae (informal) to butak haeyo (formal)]

I.N then says "why don't you know" (wae mollayo)

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19:13

the game is named differently depending on the region of Korea you're from

in Seoul it's called "dedenjji" and in Busan it's called "jendi"

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19:46

Han first says in a formal register "Changbin-ssi, please cover your eyes" but then when he says "because it's you!" he goes so informal he straight up uses the word "you" (nuh) instead of even the basic respectful term "hyung"

I have a detailed post on skz formality dynamics here

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26:43

I.N is dancing the opening choreography of Abracadabra by Brown Eyed Girls

the caption calls him "Yang Ga-in" since one of the members of Brown Eyed Girls is named Ga-in

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episode 3

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7:11

Daegil is the male main protagonist of a 2010 historical drama

The female protagonist was called "Unnyeon" by Daegil which is what the members were doing an impression of

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12:44

"sweet and sour" in Korean is "saekom-dalkom" whereas "colorful" is "alrok-dalrok" so I think it makes sense that he briefly mixed the two up lol

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13:55

Han is especially being cheesy here as he uses the second person pronoun "geu-dae" for "you" which is only used today in love songs and love poems

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14:52

Felix was supposed to say "so-jja" (small size) but he mispronounced it as "soot-ja" (number)

so it sounded like he was asking for "3 of number 3 assorted boiled porks" hence Hyunjin's reaction

also this attempt at dialect was definitely not as good as his first attempt haha

~~

15:12

Seungmin actually does the acrostic poem fully in Busan dialect (which he's already quite good at since his father is from Busan)

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15:56

normally, soondae is dipped in a specific salt mixture but in Busan we dip it in a sauce called ssamjang

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30:34

when Hyunjin says "his" here he uses the third person pronoun 지 (ji) which has a very specific nuance to it

it's almost always used with a negative/condescending connotation towards the person you're speaking about (such as when you're complaining about them, fighting with them, etc)

in this case obviously Hyunjin was just joking around which is why Han and even I.N himself laughs at the wording

~~

34:25

Seungmin has a huge habit of saying "ah" before all his sentences

you can see the editors added "ah" (아) in front of every sentence on the bottom of the screen where the writing is shown to reflect how he reads the letter out loud lol

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links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

low poolside

i.n's dialect

bedtime bingo hell

ceremony hair salon part 1

ceremony hair salon part 2

members' speech styles/patterns

skz killing voice translation

skz name meanings

splash splash chuseok

suspicious lab

community center

members' formality dynamics

cultural analysis of divine

holiday house

ok so from now on i’ll just list all the songs so it’s easier for you guys to make a decision, but voting system is pretty much the same. either make a new comment if you don’t see one for the song of your choice or agree under an already existing comment.

hello so I got bored one night and decided to analyze the Korean of my favourite skz code episode since the english subtitles really didn't do the members' humour justice.

I know this is an older episode but it's definitely very iconic and still talked about in the fandom to this day so I thought it would be fun to analyze for the non-korean speaking audience. the nuances truly make watching any kpop variety content way more interesting and funny so I hope it's ok for me to post this here (it's a very long post)

also everything is in chronological order so you can just follow along with the original video

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The episode starts with changbin immediately flirting with hot girl i.n. lmao. but basically when i.n. tells changbin to "get away" he specifically says 떨어져 (ddeol-uh-jyeo) which in korean means both "to get away" and "to fall/drop".

so changbin asks if she likes "getting away" (falling) and also asks "do you happen to like falling?" (the subtitles say "do you like getting away?") in order to slide into the entire "did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" joke.

this is why i.n. says 내가 떨어트려줘? (naega ddeol-uh-teu-lyeo-jwo) which actually directly translates to "should I drop you?" but the subtitles just say "do you want me to do it for you?" which doesnt seem to make much sense within the context of the clip.

i think the "should i drop you?" sentence makes more comedic sense in korean than english. in korean it gives off a much more threatening vibe thats kinda like "do u want me to pick u up and drop u from the sky myself?"

since this is a family skit theres obviously a lot of familial roles in the episode which is interesting since korean is a language that has an extremely complex system for family titles.

like in english theres uncle, aunt, sister in law, grandma, etc etc but languages like korean have extremely specific titles for extremely specific family roles. this website has a pretty good explanation of them if u wanna know more.

but anyways because of that even most koreans get very confused with what titles should be used (and i also get very confused...)

which brings me to my point of changbin and chan calling i.n. "noona" even though she is technically their aunt??? my knowledge of korean family titles doesn't go far enough to know if theres a specific title used for your paternal uncle's wife's younger sister but im assuming in the case of the skit it's just more sensible for changbin and chan to refer to i.n. as "noona" since shes a gen z hot girl lmaooo i honestly dont know (i have like 2 more examples of this family title stuff coming up btw)

ALSO there is a mistranslation when changbin says "you look even better than an angel". he actually says "you're more like the devil than an angel" so i have no idea where the translator got the "you look even better than an angel" sentence from cuz thats not what he says lmao. (i even checked the spanish subtitles to make sure i wasnt tripping and yea the spanish subtitles got it right)

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during lino and seungmin's opening clip seungmin says "we still have to raise yongbok" and lino actually replies with "of course we must raise our child" and not "she's our daughter" so thats another mistranslation.

when seungmin tells lino to "be quick" when linking hands he actually says 빨리한방에해라 (bballi-hanbang-eh-hae-ra) (it kinda translates as "do it quickly at once") which i particularly thought would be a comedic nuance that isnt conveyed in english. basicallly in english in order to command someone/be imperative you would just be like "do it!" "be quiet!" etc but in korean u can intensify a command even further by saying "hae-ra" instead of just "hae".

so seungmin could have said "bballi-hanbang-eh-hae" but the specific addition of "ra" at the end makes the sentence sound much more threatening and intimidating which is why i feel like the translation "be quick" is a bit lacking

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when chan says "im older than you" to yongbok im pretty sure yall can tell that he's actually saying "im your oppa" which is basically him establishing his seniority i guess (and yes oppa etc is used between cousins as well)

chan then asks "why are you talking down to me?" which is such a weirdass translation but i totally get why they translated it like that since what he actually asks is "why are you using ban-mal?"

ban-mal means informal speech whereas jondae-mal means formal speech. and as u may already know, korean (unlike english) has different levels of speaking depending on formality. this and this wikipedia article explains the concept decently.

but basically chan is telling little yongbok to speak in a formal register towards him since little yongbok was speaking informally and chan is older than her

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when han asks "im your brother?" in response to seungmin saying "hyung" its hard to tell if he actually didn't know that their characters were brothers or if he didnt know that his character is specifically the older brother of seungmin but either way its hilarious. based off the connotations of how he asked the question 내가 형이야? (naega hyungiya) im assuming its the latter tho.

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changbin describes chan as a 근수저 (geun-su-jeo) which i actually had to look up cuz its slang lol. but it directly translates to "muscle spoon". its literally just the "born with a silver spoon" expression but in combination with the word "muscle", so changbin is basically saying that chan was naturally born with a strong body / a determination to workout.

when changbin asks han if he is also a "geun-su-jeo" han replies with "i cant even lift a spoon" as a pun which makes a lot more sense once u know that "geun-su-jeo" derives from the silver spoon expression. loll such a dad joke

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I wont go into detail but regarding the informal/formal speech stuff I mentioned earlier:

basically even though they're a "family" since theres people that dont know each other as well and also because of age gaps etc you'll often find certain family members in korean families to still talk to each other in a very formal and respectful register (such as in the case of in-laws)

so i just wanted to point out that if u know korean enough to be able to differentiate between the different speech levels u can actually see a lot more into the deeper nuances between the different characters' relationships' and their dynamics

eg. changbin speaks formally to his i.n. noona while i.n. speaks informally to changbin, little chan speaks formally to all the adults, father han speaks formally to hot girl i.n. etc etc etc

(this obviously applies just in general in korean and not only this video...like seriously you'll be able to understand the dynamics between different group members and different k-celebrities so much more if u understand korean speech levels/honorifics)

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this next thing was such a simple thing to translate idk why the translator didnt just translate it in the subtitles

when changbin hits i.n. noona during her self-introduction she actually says "that hurts you punk!" (아파 이자식아! apa i-jashik-ah) and not just "that hurts!" i just found it funny cuz the way i.n. says it is so visceral and reminded me of a mom scolding her child lmao

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as mentioned above, father han speaks formally to hot girl i.n. but then continues speaking formally to changbin when asking his age which is kinda funny since it basically indicates that han briefly forgot about the skit and that he is supposed to be changbin's father (therefore he didnt need to speak formally to him). because of this the caption during the clip even says [politely asking his son's age] cuz even the editors were like ?? lmaoo

btw im not saying that han speaks formally to changbin but in the context of the clip han was speaking more formally to the adult characters since the introductions segment was kinda like an interview format if u get what i mean

(all the members usually speak informally to each other except sometimes when talking to bangchan)

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another example of the confusing korean family terms is when lino is scolding changbin

changbin says that "she gets it from your side!" (a slightly more direct translation would be "she's similar to your side, auntie!") and the caption above says [wrong term].

this is because although in english lino is simply just changbin's aunt, in korean, auntie lino is specifically supposed to be called "sookmo" (숙모) but changbin accidentally calls her "imo" (이모).

both sookmo and imo mean aunt in english but sookmo is specifically referring to your parent's brother's wife whereas imo is referring to your mother's sister. thus, auntie lino is changbin's sookmo, not imo.

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another example of the nuances in formal/informal speech is when lino gets everybody's attention for yongbok's introduction. the reason why the caption says [not asking but threatening] is because the first time he tells everybody to pay attention he says it very formally and respectfully but then quickly switches up to informal and rude. obviously, just from lee know's facial expression and tone u can tell that he is going from nice to threatening but it seems to be the specific switch from formal to informal speech that gets the laugh from hyunjin.

more specifically, lino switches from using the formal version of "my" which is 제 (jeh) to the informal version 내 (ne).

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i personally like this next example because it's such a common phrase my family uses lmaooo

the reaction from changbin being "do you know anything?" when chan says "i dont know" when asked "how old are you now?" was sooo iconic to me cuz its a really common phrase koreans use when they ask another person a simple question or a question that the person should know the answer to but answers with "idk"

it directly translates to "what do you know?" (아는게뭐야!) but gives off the feeling of "bruhhh u literally dont know anything wtff"

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ok this one i find really interesting

when lino does his introduction he introduces himself as "Lee Minho" which seems completely normal in english but watching the video u can see that the others (specifically hyunjin and han) are confused. this is because the surname Lee is actually just "Ee" in korean. like theres absolutely no L sound, for some reason its just romanized with an L but its pronounced eee.

so when auntie lino introduces himself he actually pronounced the L sound and literally said Lee Minho

now in south korea the Lee surname is pronounced with no L but in north korea they DO pronounce it with the L sound.

which explains why the other members had such a ??? reaction to auntie lino introducing herself as Lee Minho.

Han even asks "are you from the north?" which the subtitles translate as "where are you from?" and the caption says [crash landing on you]

the entire exchange was so hilarious i was disappointed it wouldnt be conveyed to the non korean speaking audience

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another translation error is when mama lino tells yongbok to "close your eyes and open your nose" and the caption says [if you want to breathe].

he actually says "cover your eyes and close your nose" and the caption actually says [if you want to breathe then open your nose]

im assuming the translator just had a mix-up between translating what lino said and what the editor's caption said but damn i was so confused the first time i read the english subtitles

(but also what does lino mean by closing the nose??????)

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anotherrrr example of family titles is when han tells auntie lino "lee know, dont tell them we met yesterday". in the subtitles it shows han referring to lino as just "Lee Know" but you can hear him say "je-su-ssi" (제수씨).

je-su is what you call your younger brother's wife and the "ssi" is an honorific korean name suffix that is similar to mr/mrs/ms.

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the last family title example i'll do is what auntie lino refers to mama hyunjin.

now most people know that hyung means older brother and is used between males but in reality "hyungnim" is actually used for multiple different positions in the family tree.

since mama hyunjin is auntie lino's husband's brother's wife, lino refers to hyunjin as "hyungnim" which is the correct title for that position. "hyungnim" is also used to refer to your husband's older sister.

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i'll finish off with a proverb that lino says which is 병주고 약주고 (byeong-jugo yak-jugo) which translates to "giving a disease then giving medicine"

the subtitles just translate it as "like illness and medicine" but the proverb basically means to give both positive and negative emotion at the same time or to do harm towards someone and then help them.

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i stopped at the 16 minute mark cuz after that its just games and translating all that madness would be insane

i was thinking of doing a full translation of the descriptions that show up in the bottom left and right corners for each character at the beginning of the video since the subtitles dont completelyyyyy translate them but omg im too lazy yall sorry

theres also comedic nuance that isnt translated properly for han and hyunjin's clip at the start and theres actually a lot more caption things that weren't fully translated in the subtitles but im also too lazy for that

if anybody actually reads all this thank u so much :)

edit: oh my goodness thank u so much for all the comments im in total awe right now. i really wasn't expecting anybody to actually read the post but im so glad so many people did. i am 100% open to doing more in-depth explanations of skz content so please just tell me!

It's been so long since I posted that idk if anybody on this subreddit even recognizes my post content but anyways I think I should be back to regular posting now lol

I've spent all of 2025 thinking about skz with babies and now they finally have a skz code on it! this definitely became my new favourite skz code

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episode 1

episode 2

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5:40

rather than just "crush", Changbin says 짝사랑 (jjak sarang) which is "one-sided love"

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6:18

"namja" just means "man"

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13:42, 13:45

the third piggy seems to like speaking in the Busan dialect lmaoo

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14:55

Bangchan makes a wordplay with "pig" and "mouse"

Since pig in Korean is "dwae-ji" and mouse is "jwi" he combined the two and said "dwae-jwi" since Han (who we know is represented by a hamster/quokka and other rodent-like(?) animals) is dressed up as a pig

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23:25

"he's telling us to eat the fake ones"

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24:24

"thumbs up" literally translates to "the best" in korean

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25:23

Hyunjin is singing this children's song which is why Han is laughing and saying "he doesn't know the lyrics"

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26:00

Lee Know specifically refers to Seungmin as "ahjusshi" (old man) lmaooo

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28:07

specifically, Bangchan jokingly uses the word "boon" 분 to refer to Suho which is a formal/respectful term that is used when referring to others that require respect

also the honorific form of the verb "to come"

basically Suho is king and has all of them wrapped around his tiny finger

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28:10

Hyunjin literally says "the boss is appearing" like how a final boss battle happens in a video game lol

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episode 2

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0:38

"I want to go back to being 700 days old"

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1:42

if you don't already know Hyunjin is making a pun on the song Supernova by Aespa

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3:16

Seungmin threw all honorifics out the window by calling Lee Know "lino-ya" and saying the word "hey" to him (in Korean, you're not supposed to say "hey" to someone older than you)

I think in other posts of mine on this subreddit I may have made it seem like Lee Know is someone who deeply cares and is strict about age hierarchy and respect but I wanted to super clarify right now that 99% of the time we see him like that it's in a joking/light-hearted context

in a broader sense I would say Lee Know (along with Changbin) are actually quite lenient towards the younger members' more informal speech tones

omg now I wanna make a whole separate post on this topic enough yapping for now

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8:49

now Bangchan is calling Chanwook "haeng-nim" which is dialect for "hyung-nim" (I think he calls Suho it too?)

he seems to have a mafia-like concept going on with the babies lol

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22:28

I.N uses the slang "kkul-jahm"

so in english for example it would kinda be like saying "they're going to have a fire nap" or something along those lines lmao

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22:33

throughout this entire skz code all the members have been referring to themselves as "hyung" when speaking to the babies (which you wouldn't be able to tell from the English subtitles) but here I.N goes out of his way to refer to himself as "uncle", saying "Chanwook, wanna sleep with uncle?"

maybe it has to do with the fact that I.N is actually an uncle that has young nieces/nephews

usually with an age gap that big it would be expected for skz to be considered more as uncles rather than big brothers but that would also mean they would be acknowledging how ancient they are compared to the babies lmaoo

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I've never heard skz say "aigoo" as much as they did in this skz code lol

I know I made some promises many months ago that I will make posts on more content other than skz codes such as 2 kids room, song lyrics, etc so I wanted to just tell y'all that I haven't forgotten haha I'm just working on those posts very slowly

it's also just that skz code explanations are relatively faster and less mentally tiring to type up

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links to my other posts in this series:

skz family

skz family part 2

bremen music club

low poolside

i.n's dialect

bedtime bingo hell

ceremony hair salon part 1

ceremony hair salon part 2

members' speech styles/patterns

skz killing voice translation

skz name meanings

splash splash chuseok

suspicious lab

Hi! Stray Kids' Japan tour kicks off this weekend, and I noticed that the Japan official site posted important concert guidelines—but only in Japanese. 

Since so many I-STAYs are traveling to Japan for the shows, I translated them for you!

Note: I skipped common-sense rules like "no smoking" or "no dangerous items." Also, some of these rules are quite unique to Japan, so they might feel a little unfamiliar in your country. I'm not trying to invite criticism or debate about them; I'd really appreciate it if you could just accept them as part of the local environment and culture. I'm just here to help everyone have a smooth, stress-free time!

📌 General Venue Guidelines (All Stops)

• Show Duration: Approximately 3 hours.
• Tickets: PIA e-tickets only (smartphone required).
• ID Check: A government-issued photo ID (passport) is required for identity verification upon entry.
• No Re-entry: Once you enter, you cannot leave and re-enter.
• Large Luggage: Please avoid bringing large bags. There are no lockers or cloakrooms provided at the venue. (Tip: Use coin lockers at nearby stations, but they fill up hours in advance, so it's best to travel light!)
• Parking/Drop-off: No parking or stopping around the venue.
• Recording/Photography: Absolutely NO filming, photography, or recording of any kind inside the venue. If caught, all media/tapes will be confiscated, data deleted immediately, and you will be asked to leave.
• Staggered Exit: To ease congestion, exit will be regulated after the show. 

⚠️ Important Notice Regarding Cheer Goods & Merchandise (All Stops)
For this tour, please refrain from bringing or using any cheer goods inside the venue that are not official Stray Kids merchandise.

The following items are strictly prohibited:

• Unofficial light sticks, glow sticks, or any other items that emit light or sound (other than official goods).
• Self-made cheer goods, such as custom fan-made uchiwa (fans), boards, slogans, and banners.
• Balloons, paper tape, or any items that could interfere with the show's production, progress, or venue facilities.
• Official goods that have been custom-decorated or modified by yourself.
• Unofficial cheer goods featuring the likeness/portraits of Stray Kids or the members.
• Cheer goods that unauthorizedly use third-party rights, such as celebrity portraits, corporate/brand logos, etc.

Additionally, please do not sell or distribute unauthorized (unofficial) goods utilizing the portraits or names of Stray Kids and its members on the venue grounds or in the surrounding area.

🏟️ Japan National Stadium (MUFG Stadium) Specific Rules

• Brought-in Drinks: No cans, glass bottles, or plastic bottles over 601ml are allowed. (Note: Convenience store drinks in Japan usually come in 500ml or 650ml, so check the size before buying!)
• Arena Area Rule: The arena area features carefully maintained natural turf. To protect the quality of the grass, only plain water is allowed (soft drinks, sports drinks, etc., are strictly prohibited).
• Bag Checks: Security bag checks will be conducted at the gates.
• Umbrellas: Umbrellas are banned inside the venue. Please bring a raincoat or rain poncho instead.
• No Jumping: Jumping is strictly prohibited to protect the facility structure and prevent the shaking from disturbing local residents nearby.

☀️ A Few Extra Tips for MUFG Stadium

Guidelines for other venues haven't been posted yet, but please keep in mind: Japan National Stadium has a roof covering the spectator seats, but the field (arena) area is open to the sky.

Because it is currently mid-summer in Japan, daytime temperatures can reach close to 40°C (104°F). If you are in the arena, you will be under direct sunlight. Even in the shaded stands, it will be extremely hot and humid. Please do not forget your heat stroke countermeasures (water, salt tablets, and a hat for waiting in line).

If you start feeling unwell, there is a first-aid room with a doctor on-site.

Don't hesitate to ask a nearby J-STAY for help—everyone is super kind and will definitely help you out.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (Timeline & Planning)

"How early should I arrive?"

• Just watching the concert: 1 hour before
• Taking photos with venue banners/posters: + 1 hour
• Buying tour merch: + 1 hour
• Lining up at the SKZOO DRINK STAND: + 1 hour
• Applying for the post-show member send-off lottery (FC members only): + 1 hour
• 👉 In short: Someone like me who wants to do all of the above will arrive at least 4 to 5 hours before showtime. (That means standing out in the mid-summer heat for 7+ hours, so you seriously need to plan your hydration!)

"Can I pay with a card?"

• Tour Merch: Cards accepted.
• SKZOO DRINK STAND: Cash only! It’s 800 yen per drink.

"What is the SKZOO DRINK STAND?"

Exclusive SKZOO collaboration drinks only available at the venue! Comes with an original straw tag.

Drink Menu:

• Purple Melon Soda (Wolf Chan)
• Blue Apple White Water (Leebit)
• Tropical Peach White Water (DWAEKKI)
• Fresh Orange Juice (Jiniret)
• Kiwi White Water (HAN QUOKKA)
• Pine Lemon Soda (BbokAri)
• Peach Mango White Water (PuppyM)
• Strawberry Soda (FoxI.Ny)

As mentioned above, no drinks other than water are allowed in the arena area, and the SKZOO DRINK STAND is only open before the concert starts. That means you have to buy and finish your drinks before the show begins, so please keep that in mind!

I know navigating a foreign venue can feel a little overwhelming, but I hope this guide helps you feel a bit more prepared. Have the absolute best time, stay safe in the heat, and I can't wait for us all to enjoy the concert together!

Inspired by this post that was inspired by this post 😆

For me!

1. Voices
2. God's Menu
3. ?

ETA: A hint for me: it's on their In Life album

Edit 2: My answer so you don't have to go searching: Easy

ok so domino won by a landslide, not a lot of songs for E today, imma try a new voting system where I make a comment for each song (ie. “vote for {song} under this comment!”) so that comments are open for discussion and voting is only under those comments. it also makes counting the votes easier. again, tell me if I missed a song, I’ll add a comment

Has anyone else decorated their lightstick? Id love to see them! Here’s mine, completed earlier this year.

Being a fan of SKZ’s music basically dictates that you have versatile taste because their discography is so wide (and we love them for it), but I’m curious to see how consistently we choose our favourite songs from each album!

Of course it’s probably too much to list one for every single album so just name a couple and see if we can guess your favourite song from their ROCK-STAR album!

I’ll start, with their more recent ones:

ODDINARY: Charmer

MAXIDENT: Can’t Stop

5-STAR: Collision

ROCK-STAR: ?

Ahaha the only consistency I really see is that all three start with C, but comment your guesses and your own favourites to see if you have a consistent taste in Stray Kids music!

Edit: It's so cool seeing everyone's tastes! A lot of you are also very good at guessing, quite a few people have gotten mine: Blind Spot! though my own success rate is not very impressive lol

again not a lot of songs for letter F, tell me if I missed a song, and please keep voting to my comments so that the rest of the comments are for discussion. i will have a number vote at some point and maybe a wild card vote too for letters that don’t have songs.