My Love, The Douche

Just saw this comment by Brian Park from a couple of months ago on the Singles Jukebox thread for Fat Cat's "My Love Bitch," the title we gave the song turning out to be questionable; most of the translations go "My Love Bad Boy," but this is what Brian had to say [unfortunately, WordPress doesn't do Hangul and gave him question marks instead; where I've surmised what he meant I've inserted the lettering; otherwise I've kept the question marks]:

Brian Park, on November 12th, 2011 at 11:00 pm Said:
Native Korean speaker here; I know nothing about this song or the artist, but since some were wondering about the title...

The title in Korean is "내 사랑 싸가지". The first part is straightforward, meaning "my love". The word "싸가지" is the problematic one and I'm sure many Koreans don't even know what the word means, even if they use it all the time.

It is originally a dialectal term for "bud" or "shoot", as in the embryonic stages of plant growth. But most Koreans only know it from the expression “???? ??”, i.e. "there is no 싸가지", which presumably means that someone lacks potential completely. Properly, this describes someone who acts immaturely, without manners, etc., but as people have little awareness of the original etymology it is now used as a generic dismissive put-down. From this you get "싸가지" by shortening, which feels like a recent phenomenon (but I could be wrong).

An English word with a similar trajectory I can think of is "douche", which also feels similar enough in its vague pejorative sense. So I'll go with "douche"; "내 사랑 싸가지" could be "My Love, the Douche". And yes, the English translation needs the comma and the definite article to convey the original meaning in an idiomatic way.

"싸가지" only appears in the very first line of the song, in the context “??? ?? ??” ("get lost, douche"). It is pretty clear that "bitch" is the wrong translation, at least for those who don't use the word gender-neutrally.

(Fwiw, Google translate gives "I Love A Bitch" for "내 사랑 싸가지" [which is how Korean TV spells it, and how Brian Park spells it too], "My Love A Bad Boy" for "내사랑 싸가지," and "Indifferent" for "싸가지" alone, which may be how allkpop.com came up with "Indifferent Love." [UPDATE March 2012: And now, Google Translate does "My Love Is A Bad Boy" for "내 사랑 싸가지" and "Baby Bitch" for "내사랑 싸가지."])

https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzA5NTc3NTU2.html

(I'm sticking with "My Love Bad Boy" simply to go along with the majority, but from reading Brian's post I actually think a gender-neutral "My Love, The Bitch" is closer to the spirit of the song.)

( Is Being Pretty Everything? )

The Euro Zone Is A Slow-Motion Train Wreck

"'The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck,' Mr. Roubini said during a separate panel discussion."

Slow-wreck aficionados will note that this is better than a couple of months ago, when Europe was on the train-wreck fast track owing to the ECB's then-unwillingness to purchase Spanish and Italian bonds.*

Confused centipede attempts to mate with mealworm pupa


*It's not directly purchasing them now, but, according to Krugman at any rate, it's doing the functional equivalent, essentially laundering the purchases through banks.

My Country Critics Music Poll ballot, 2011

( Intro blah blah )

TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2011:

1. Taylor Swift "Mean"
2. Reba McEntire "If I Were A Boy"
3. Jamey Johnson "Heartache"
4. Eric Church "Homeboy"
5. Reba McEntire "When Love Gets A Hold Of You"
6. Gillian Welch "The Way It Goes"
7. Taylor Swift "Sparks Fly"
8. Keith Urban "Long Hot Summer"
9. Aaron Lewis "Country Boy"
10. The Band Perry "You Lie"

TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2011:

1. Miranda Lambert - Four The Record
2. Sunny Sweeney - Concrete
3. Lauren Alaina - Wildflower
4. Randy Montana - Randy Montana
5. Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
6. Eric Church - Chief
7. Zach James - Machos Pathos

( Other categories )

( Country music can go fuck itself )