Monday, October 26, 2009

My heart is chilled by your cold noodle


There's this song that's been going around for quite a while now. And in Korea pop music permeates so thoroughly. If a song is a hit, you will hear it sometimes 4 or 5 times a day, on TV, commercials, radio, EVERYWHERE. And just when you think it's finally over, burned out to the ground from tragically intense repetitive comprehensive media assault, it'll creep back again in the form of a remix or something. This song is called "Naeng Myeon," which means "cold noodle" in Korean. Naeng myeon is a bowl of very chewy, cold buckwheat noodles, either with soup broth or without, and sometimes with chunks of ice in with the mix to keep it at a near freezing temperature. Scissors are a must, because the noodles can be so chewy that they're tough to cut through with your teeth, and if they're not cut first, you can actually feel like you're choking at times while eating them. There's usually thinly sliced cucumber or pickled radish, a chunk or two of dried fish or beef, sesame seeds, and chile sauce. It can be pretty spicy, and you're encouraged to add a bit of vinegar, sugar, and chinese spicy mustard (the kind that gets up in your nose) to it, which really gives it a unique flavor: a mix of sweet, spicy, and sour.

Although the song is ultra-cheese, the lyrics are pure genius once they're translated into English. They even have this dance move that goes along with it that makes them look like they are eating out of a bowl of cold noodles. Check out the video it's so classic. Here's a translation of the chorus:

So cold, So chilling
My teeth are chattering
from your cold noodle, cold noodle, cold noodle
My heart is chilled
by your cold noodle, cold noodle, cold noodle
If I see you, it's too much. Even if I see you again, it's too much.
It's ice cold.
My body's trembling
from your cold cold noodle, cold noodle, cold noodle
It’s tough, it's too tough,
your cold noodle, cold noodle, cold noodle
Still I love you.



3 comments:

andrewjbates said...

I heard somewhere that 냉면 in the context of that song doesn't mean ice noodle, but is slang for something else. Do you know anything about this?

.db. said...

Yeah, I guess 면 also means face or a side. So maybe half of the translations for the song you find use "your cold side" instead of "your cold noodle." Kind of a play on words. But if you really think about, "your cold noodle" is definitely the only words that hit the mark.

sg said...

dude! remake when you get back to the states for sure.