Tag: Translations

Kim Relations at Thanksgiving

LORELAI: Young-Kwan, good to see you. Hee-Jin, hi. Oh, I love your hair. Su-Nam, hi. Hi. Ho-Kyung, Won-Kyu, great to see you, hi.

Young-Kwan – a male name meaning “brave and strong”. In A Year in the Life, one of Lane’s sons is named Kwan, so it is possibly a family name.

Hee-Jin – a female name meaning “precious pearl”.

Su-Nam – a male name which can be translated as “man of a long lifespan”. Lane said she had a cousin called “Nam”, I am not sure if this is the same person or not.

Ho-Kyung – a unisex (?) name which can be translated in several ways, including “bright and respectful”.

Won-Kyu – a unisex (?) name which can be translated as “first and standard”. I have only ever seen it the other way around, Kyu-Won, when it is usually male.

Notice how familiar Lorelai and Rory are with the Kim relatives, knowing their names, and comfortable enough to make polite small talk. They look genuinely happy to see Lorelai and Rory. Although we rarely see it, the Gilmore girls must often attend family gatherings at the Kim household.

The Kim family members are played by Peter Kim, Jennifer Bolton Lee, Janet Song, Kim Kim, Alexis Rhee, Greg Joung Paik, Jae Woo Lee, Sunny Bonner, John D. Kim, and April Moon. None were very experienced at this point, but Rhee and Song have gone on to have long careers, appearing in some well-known and popular productions.

Note: I know nothing about Korean names, so feel free to rip this apart!

Salsa

LUKE: I already have food here. We sell it to the other customers who don’t come quite as prepared as the two of you.

LORELAI: Mm, be nice and get us some salsa.

Salsa, a variety of sauces used as condiments for tacos, dips for tortilla chips, and other dishes in Mexican and Mexican-American cuisine. In Spanish, the word salsa just means “sauce” (any sauce), but in English, it specifically refers to Mexican table sauces.

Their use in the US was popularised by Mexican restaurants, gaining in popularity during the 1980s. By 1992, salsa sales in the US exceeded those for tomato ketchup.

Collage

RORY: Can we not say the word college for at least forty-eight hours? …

LORELAI: How ’bout collage, can we say collage? ‘Cause it sounds the same but it’s actually very different.

Collage (from the French meaning “stick together”) is an art technique which involves assembling paper, photographs, ribbons, paint, and/or found objcts and gluing them to paper or canvas. The technique goes back to ancient China, around 200 BC, but made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as a form of modern art.

The words college and collage don’t actually sound the same, although there is some similarity.

[Collage shown is an untitled work by German Dadaist artist Kurt Schwitter]

Tacos and Tortillas

RORY: We like tacos …

LORELAI: “With homemade tortillas, it elevates this fast finger food to the level of haute cuisine.”

A taco is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small corn-based or what-based tortilla topped with a filling then folded around the filling, and eaten by hand.

Corn (maize) tortillas are a thin, unleavened flatbread that have been made in Mexico since prehistoric times, although it was the Spanish who gave them the name tortilla (“little cake”). The Nahuatl word for them is tlaxcalli, meaning “something baked”. Wheat-based tortillas developed in northern Mexico, and are often associated with California, since it was once part of the Mexican Empire. In North America, most tortillas are made from wheat.

Common taco fillings include beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, vegetables, and cheese, and they can be topped with condiments such as salsa, guacamole, or sour cream, and garnished with vegetables such as lettuce, onion, tomatoes, and chillies. The meaning and origin of the word taco has been much debated.

Wang Chung and Billy Joel

SHERRY: Finding something was impossible. I would be looking for my Wang Chung or Billy Joel and I would just have to give up.

Wang Chung: English New Wave band formed in 1980 by Nick Feldman, Jack Hues and Darren Costin. The name Wang Chung means “yellow bell” in Chinese, and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. The band found their greatest success in the US, with five top 40 hits there, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including “Dance Hall Days” (1984) and “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (1986).

William “Billy” Joel (born 1949) [pictured], singer, pianist, composer, and songwriter. He has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released 12 pop and rock studio albums from 1971 to 1993 as well as one studio album of classical compositions in 2001. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Joel has released 33 self-written Top 40 hits in the US, with three of them reaching #1 (“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”, “Tell Her About it”, and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”). He has won 6 Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He received the Johnny Mercer Award for songwriting in 2001 and the Kennedy Center Honors for the arts in 2013. He has had a successful concert career, and continues to tour.

Namaste

DWIGHT: [on answering machine]Hey, it’s Dwight. Leave me a message. Namaste.

Namaste, a Hindu greeting, farewell, thank you, and acknowledgement. It literally means “bowing to you” in Sanskrit, often translated as “I bow to the divine in you”. It is usually spoken with a slight bow and hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close to the chest.

Dwight using this as his answering machine greeting is probably meant to reflect his embracing of “exotic” cultures in his search for a new, more relaxed life. I can see him signing up for Miss Patty’s yoga classes.

Soirée

MICHEL: Your mother called. The auction people dropped the lamp that we bought at her place and dropped hers off here and she’s desperate to have it for some soiree at her house this evening.

A soirée is a sophisticated evening party, often with some kind of cultural or musical focal point, such as a classical music performer, or an intellectual discussion. It dates back to the 18th century in France and England, when wealthy, well-married ladies would invite accomplished guests to their home for refreshments in the evening. The word is simply the French word for “evening”.

“Sign of the devil”

RORY: I like the brown.

LORELAI: Come here a sec, you’ve got some dirt on your forehead. I’m sorry, it’s just the sign of the devil, my mistake.

Lorelai refers to the Mark of the Beast which is mentioned in the Bible in Revelation 13:16-17.

He causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one may buy or sell, except he who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

The “beast” is also called “the false prophet” or Antichrist who “speaks like a dragon” – that is, speaks arrogantly, as if to place himself even above God. The meaning of the text has been hotly debated, but many biblical scholars think that “the beast” is the Roman Empire, the Emperor Nero, and the ruling elites. However, there is a popular view that “the beast” is the Devil himself. (See the entry for Antichrist for information on how the Antichrist and Devil have become conflated).

The Greek word translated as “mark”- charagma (χάραγμα) – can mean a mark that is engraved, imprinted, or branded. The word is the same one used to refer to stamped money, documents, or coins. As Roman coins carried the image of the emperor, it seems to fit in with the idea of “the beast” being the Roman Empire and emperor.

During the time when Nero was emperor, in 66 AD, the Jews revolted against the Romans and coined their own money so that they did not need to carry around this symbol of oppression to do business. This is about the same time that scholars believe Revelation was written, and some believe that these verses pertain to that, or are informed by it.