튀는 아이, t=i
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007This is a photo I took in 광주(Gwangju), the city I was born in, when I visited my parents the other day. I always love the humor found in these kinds of signboards and store names because they make it so much easier to remember the names and also show the effort that the store owner(or someone else) must have made to come up with such phrases or names.
What you see is [ t = i ], which means nothing in English. But if you pronounce it, it’s a different story 
The mathematical sign ” =(equal) ” is read as “는” in Korean, as in “저는 ㅇㅇㅇ입니다”
So if you read it in Korean, it’s “티(t)는 아이(i)”.
And as you can see in the bottom part of the signboard, the name is supposed to mean ‘튀는 아이’.
Of course there’s a clear distinction between 티 and 튀 since 티 is [ TI ] and 튀 is [ TWI ], but if you say them both just quickly, they sound similar.
And the expression 튀는 아이 is very interesting too, because 튀는 (or 튀다 in its basic form) is not in the dictionary yet. If you look it up in your dictionary, it will say “to jump” “to run away” or “to spatter” but 튀다 in daily conversations often means “to stand out” or “to be unique or peculiar in style”.
튀는 옷 = very unique clothes (it’s NOT some clothes running away)
튀는 패션 = peculiar fashion (it’s NOT some fashion jumping up and down)
튀는 얼굴 = a very unique face, a face that you won’t easily forget (it’s NOT a face that spatters)
So 튀는 아이 means “a kid that stands out or is noticeable” (because of his/her clothes - this is what the store name is supposed to mean), so you can guess that this store is a clothes shop for kids.
I really loved this name, and wanted to share it with all of you.
Thank you for reading!
Posted by Hyunwoo in Humor in Korean |
December 19th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Thanks again for the Korean humour lesson. I told one of my co-workers about “뷁” and she laughed. She said that nowadays it’s teenagers who use it the most, so if I use it, it will sound weird. I also said it in one of my classes, and my kids really laughed. 아마도 제 학생들이 이상한 외국인 이다고 생각하죠!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
That’s such a clever name! Nothing around here is named as cool as that D:
December 20th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Daniel
Yeah 뷁 is often used on the Net by young kids
so be careful when you used it, but it’s always good to know what it means because you get to see it so often here and there.
“아마도 제 학생들이 이상한 외국인 이다고 생각하죠!”
–> “아마도 제 학생들이 이상한 외국인이라고 생각할 거예요.”
December 20th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Tali,
My mother was giving me a ride to the train station, and I literally had to ’stop the car’ to get that pic. I thought it was soooo good and wanted to introduce it even before some other things I’d had prepared. 
I wish I had a better naming sense. XD
It’s really clever, right?
December 20th, 2007 at 8:18 am
I enjoy the word play that is showing up here, like Austin’s “人ternet.”
December 20th, 2007 at 11:23 am
현우…
That sign is really awesome. Koreans can be pretty clever huh?!
So is “달리다” a more common word for running?
December 20th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Hyunwoo-sun
You have very nice and interesting blogs, I enjoy them very much.
Keep up this great work!!
I have to confess that this sounds like me 튀다 and 튀는 얼굴 so what do you think?
S_R_C
December 20th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
I like 人ternet !
Austin, yes, 달리다 is a more common word for running, and you can also use 뛰다.
뛰다 is different from 튀다 because they are both ‘run’ but 튀다 is more like ‘run away’
Sindy, you could be a 튀는 얼굴 in Korea because you would be a foreigner here in Korea, and I would be a 튀는 얼굴 if I go to USA or Mexico too. But usually 튀는 얼굴 is not a compliment to say to somebody you met for the first time, so … heh some other words you can use is 개성 있는 얼굴
개성 means uniqueness or individuality 
December 21st, 2007 at 1:19 am
Actually, 현우, I don’t think you would have a very 튀는 얼굴 here in California. The high school that I attended is currently over 80% Asian and I believe 백인 in general to be a minority here.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
wow! 80% asian?? That’s so [i]different[/i] from my high school, it’s more like 5% is asian.
But anyways, I found this blog to be really cool! 튀는 아이 …..I won’t forget that name for awhile ㅎㅎThat’s so very clever =]