#goblintvn

BLESSINGS OF THE NATIONAL HERO

Why are you giving me more than I deserve? You saved the country in your previous life.

Yes. This is actually a thing. 

Koreans have a strong sense of patriotism (or should I say, unity in their national identity), hence among many names to say ‘South Korea’ in Korean, one of them is ‘우리나라’ which means ‘our country’. 

I think any country could see death while serving the nation as an honourable act, but in Korea, there is a specific saying that connects one’s phenomenal blessing in the present to the loyalty demonstrated in the past, which is: “전생에 나라를 구하셨나봐요/You must have saved the country in your previous life.”

In a casual conversation, Koreans will recognize a blessing of another person and say this phrase as a rationale to their unexplainable blessing.

In a comedic way, this saying is also used frequently for men who have beautiful wives lol. “Han Ga In is married to who?!? Ah, that guy must have saved the country in his previous life (lucky bum)”

Yeon Jung Hoon, the lucky bum; husband of Han Ga In; THE CHOSEN ONE WHO SAVED OUR COUNTRY lol All hail General Yeon Jung Hoon! Hurrah! Hurrah!! haha I’m just kidding sigh, she’s so beautiful;o;

CONCLUSION

If someone has a beautiful spouse beyond words can describe and you have no idea why or how, just tell them, “YOU’RE A HERO” followed by a salute in respect to his (past) bravery and patriotism.

EXTRA: WISDOM FROM EUNTAK

This isn’t part of the exclusive content, but I just thought it was an amazing part of the script. This is what EunTak says to comfort Kim Shin when he’s mourning for the passing away of Chairman Yoo, and I think this can comfort anyone who have experienced loss or has ever felt they’ve been left behind:

그러니까 남은 사람은 더 열씸히 살아야 돼요  That’s why ones who are left behind must live even more diligently

가끔 울게는 되지만  We might cry from time to time

또 많이 웃고 또 씩씩하게 But we should also laugh more; live bravely

그게 받은 사랑에 대한 예의에요. That’s only the right way to live in return for the love that we’ve received.

#bestkdramaever #aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh #goblinthebestkdrama #EVER

EP 12 SCREENSHOTS

DEOKHWA’S ROLE WAS SO BOSS LIKE WHAAAAAAAAA

Much Bromance Such Tears

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

SALTY SPIRITS

Sunny: Part-timer, throw salt at them.

(The Grim Reaper follows her so meekly haha)

Not only in Goblin, but you might have seen people in other dramas/show programs who throw salt at spirits, demons, or even a person they don’t like. That is because Koreans from back then believed that salt keeps away demons and other bad things. Kinda like garlic for vampires. But why salt?

Medicine: Koreans used salt to cure infected parts of the body. They even used it as toothpaste!

Cleansing and Preservation: Salt could also preserve meat from rotting   (<--this link has other cultures that associate salt with superstitions/bad luck so if you’re interested, go read it! Written in Korean though, sorry.)

So in short, salt has the power to extinguish and purify bad things so the belief that throwing salt will drive out evil spirits stemmed from its practical properties! Hence Sunny, who sees this rather dashing coo-coo man, commands EunTak to throw salt to drive him away! BUT HE’S BRINGING BUSINESS THO

THE LEGENDARY HOMETOWN

Kim Shin: Even if she was Sun in her previous life, I’m nothing to her in this life.

(Okay, honest truth: I had to go to a coffee shop to write this part of the blog in case something scary pops up in my researchT___T Full disclosure, I HATE SCARY STUFF so I’ll be SUPER brief.)

‘The Legendary Hometown (전설의 고향)’ is a KBS TV show that aired for 12 years with 578 episodes. It tells horror stories and folklore that’s been passed on as a legend within certain geographical locations of Korea. To this day it is the iconic horror show that anyone from the 80’s and 90’s know from their childhood. 

So here, Kim Shin is saying, “Even if she was Sun in her previous life, my existence (a 939-year-old immortal goblin) is just a fictional ghost story [like ‘The Legendary Hometown’]”.

Let’s all have a Mr. Buckwheat scarin’ away the ghosts:

CONCLUSION

Next time you dislike someone, throw salt to show you’re salty at them *badum tssss*

The Legendary Hometown. Scary show from 70’s. Yep. Ok. Let’s move on ha..haha

BONUS! COOL FACT

By the way, Mr. “Grim Reaper Jr.” here talks in the 다나까 way of speech which is the way one is required to speak within the Korean military. Remember that popular Kdrama about Korean military men? ‘Descendants of the Sun’? Guess who was in it? YES. OUR GRIM REAPER JUNIOR. Which brings me to think that they purposefully made his character in Goblin speak in that military lexicon to allude to his other role! #CrossReferencing 

Repost with your answer to ‘What grave sin do you think Grim Reaper Jr committed in his previous life as a soldier?’ Reply to this post and let me know!

P.S. In case you were wondering, there were no puns/hidden references from Ep 10.

EP 10 + 11 SCREENCAPS

DYNASTY WORD: ORABUNI

Remember back in the Ep 4 post that I said they make clever foreshadowing of Sunny’s past existence through her choice of “dynasty words”? Let me explain.

Orabuni/오라버니 is how you’d call your ‘older brother’ (blood-related) from my gramma’s times and further into ancient Korea. It’s quite strange for someone her age to use this term (they would use ‘obba’/오빠’) so that’s why Goblin is like “Girl you speakin’ ma language???!?!”

If you were to use orabuni nowadays people might look at you funny. If they don’t they’re Goblin so catch him It’s kinda like talking to your friend like, 

“Dearest brethren, would thy blessed soul bestoweth unto me thine favour of kindness and unselfish gain?” 

Yea no. Bro, can you do me a favour?

PLEASE ACCEPT MY DEEPEST APPLES

Grim Reaper: Goblin’s apology / 도깨비의 사과 [OMG WHAT’S HIS NAME]: Apology? *rummages* But they’re socks?

Of course his Assistant (that’s what we’ll call him) didn’t expect an apology to be in the bag!

In Korean, 사과 can mean either apology or apple. So this moment is a pun where the Grim Reaper’s Assistant probably understood it as:

Grim Reaper: Goblin’s apples GR Assistant: But they’re socks?

*badum tssssss*

Grim Reaper: [thinks] darn those punny scriptwriters..

CONCLUSION

Unless thou art Sunny, if thou sayeth ‘orabuni’ instead of ‘obba’, thou mighest receiveth weird looks for thy belongeth in a different era ...eth

사과 means apology and apple! Please accept my apples for being late on the postㅠㅠ From now on, I’ll aim to post every other week!

EP 9 SCREENSHOTS

SHE SAID SHE LOVES HIM AHMAGAAAAAAAAA

AND HE SAID ME TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Okay cookies to anyone who can tell me the Assistant’s name lol

FALLING LIVERS

진짜 사람 간 떨어지게..이렇게 불쑥불쑥 찾아 오실꺼 에요? You’re giving me heart attacks. Are you trying to keep this up?

Dem livers be fallin’. In English one would say they’d ‘get a heart attack’, but in Korean, ‘I’m so shook’ or ‘I’m so surprised’ literally translates to ‘you almost made my liver fall’ O_o which I thought was an interesting difference between the English language and the Korean language.

CHICKEN & RADISH PUN COMBO

저승사자: 이기적 이여서 미안한데, 오늘 저녁은 닭… 도깨비: 닥쳐

Grim Reaper: I’m sorry for being selfish, but tonight’s dinner is…. Dokkaebi: Shut it.

Okay THIS. is the highlight of today’s post, reason being that among other Goblin moments where the puns can be overlooked in the Eng subs, you NEED a proper understanding of the Korean language to understand why the Goblin throws the pickled radish in front of him. Or else, it seems kinda random. Why would he get pissed at seeing the radish after he says, “I’d rather just die…”?

First, the chicken.

In Korean 닥쳐(dak-chuh) means ‘shut up’.

닭 (dak) is chicken.

There is even an old joke about someone telling his friend to ‘닥쳐’ so the friend got a chicken and started hitting it because 닭 is chicken 쳐 means ‘hit!’, and the pronunciation of ‘닥쳐’ and ‘닭 쳐’ are the same. So when the Grim Reaper is about to say chicken/’dak’, Kim Shin attacks with a different kind of ‘dak..’!

도깨비: 나 그냥 무로 돌아갈... Dokkaebi: I’d rather just die...

Second, the radish.

무 (moo) is radish / the pickled radish you eat with Korean fried chicken.

무 (moo) is also the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character 無 ‘nothingness’ which is used in Kim Shin’s existential tagline(?). This is my own translation from episode 1:

오직 도깨비 신부만이 / Only the Goblin’s wife 그 검을 뽑을 것 이다 / will draw the sword. 검을 뽑으면 / And once the sword is drawn 무(無)로 돌아가 / will he return to nothingness 평안하리라 / and be at peace.

See where the Chinese character ‘moo’ is? No, it’s not radish, it’s nothingness. But it could very well sound like “And once the sword is drawn will he return to being a radish”!!! 

So that’s why when Kim Shin says his own tagline and comes to the ‘moo’ part, he sees the ‘moo’ that is right in front of him and realizes his own dad-joke pun HAR HAR HAR I LOVE IT.

CONCLUSION

In Korean, when you surprise someone you just gave them a liver attack!

If your friend is too noisy, tell them to ‘hit the chicken’ and the Goblin can go back to his radish form!

EP 8 SCREENSHOTS

“I ordered ‘Heaven’ for you” ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

“Dad I missed you!” ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠaaahhhhhh these two scenes justㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I can’tㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ My face right now probably looks like the dadㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ