[BWAHAHAHAHA 3] 'Three Brothers Talking Crap'

By G.S. Hand

“Bwahahahaha” is a weekly column that explores the roots of Korean humor by sharing translated passages from the joke book “Kkalkkal Useum,” originally published in 1916. –Ed.

Does entertainment need to provide a positive role model? If an audience watches a character in a story behaving badly, does it influence them to behave badly, too? This is a question that always comes up in some form in commentary on popular entertainment, underlying criticisms of violence, drug use or risqué clothing. In early 20th-century Korea, opinion leaned strongly toward the idea that writing should provide a moral example of “encouraging virtue, discouraging vice.”

The humor collection “Kkalkkal Useum” stands out within this context. The fact that it was a book of humor allowed it to break norms without coming across as dangerous. The book is filled with anti-role models, characters who do the opposite of what social norms say they should and go unpunished.

This week's joke is an example. An important element of traditional Korean morality is showing respect and deference toward one’s parents. The three brothers in this joke don’t intentionally disrespect their father, which might have crossed the line and made them unsympathetic in the eyes of the original audience. But their verbal (perhaps Freudian?) slips turn their father into a figure of mockery all the same.

There are two ways to look at the relationship between humor and morality here. Is humor an anarchic force that punctures social norms? Or does it help keep social norms intact by providing a harmless outlet for tension or aggression?

The parenthetical comments in the text below appear in the original.

“Three Brothers Talking Crap”

Three sons were trying to catch a dog to celebrate their father's birthday, but when their father went into the outhouse, the dog ran in after him. The eldest son called a servant and said, "Get a trap ready for when he comes out." (He meant to trap the dog.)

After the middle son finished eating the dog meat he threw the bones out back, and several dogs were fighting over them. He laughed and said, "Today really is a dog's birthday." (In proverbs, a day of feasting is called a birthday.)

After breakfast the third son went home, where he went to the outhouse. From inside, he heard several servants discussing among themselves, "Where will the old man’s birthday banquet be held?"

As the son stepped out of the outhouse he said, "The old man will dine right here." (He meant at his house.)

G.S. Hand is a graduate of the Translation Academy at LTI Korea and a master’s candidate in Modern Korean Literature from Korea University, as well as winner of the Fiction Grand Prize of the 53rd Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards. He lives in Seoul.