In Videos: Pizza Etang Commercial with Mr. Tyfoon; The Global Mashup
This video features South Korean rapper Mr. Tyfoon appearing in a commercial for the Asian pizza chain Pizza Etang, where he combines West Coast gangsta rap flair with Konglish, a mashup of Korean and English. Here's the Wikipedia definition of Konglish: "The words, having initially been taken from English language, are either actual English words in Korean context, or are made from a combination of Korean and English words."
It may sound incredibly similar to English, but it's decidedly not. Context helped, but still, my mind reeled, trying to keep up but only recognizing a word or two; I felt like I had a broken Babel Fish in my ear. Mr. Tyfoon's unique, contemporary speaking style is so new and radically different from traditional Korean that even my native Korean friends living in the U.S. couldn't figure it out.
As far as South Korean pizza commercials go, it's got a pretty straightforward narrative: Pizzas are ordered, the delivery guys flirt with a woman (Mr. Tyfoon himself in drag, no less), the pizza is delivered, and a promotion is mentioned. But underneath, the language complexities go so much deeper.
After the jump, the video, and more pontificating.
