Kids Bong
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Bill Benzon spotted this on Facebook:
The Korean says:
kijeu bong
키즈봉
kids cudgel
A "bong 봉" is a "cudgel, stick, club, baton". The hanja for that is 棒, which would be "bàng" in MSM.
The most famous bong 봉 in the East Asian literary tradition is Sun Wukong's ("Monkey Englightened to Emptiness") Rúyì Jīngū Bàng 如意金箍棒, which has been translated as "The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod" by Anthony Yu and as the "As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel" by W.J.F. Jenner. In Korean, it is known as the Yeo.ui Bong 여의봉.
And then there's the ubiquitous selfie stick, which is "selka (selfies) bong 셀카봉".
Kids who regularly eat their share of Kids Bong are sure to be as frisky and mighty as Sun Wukong.
[Thanks to Haewon Cho]
Ben Zimmer said,
November 10, 2018 @ 3:22 pm
As it happens, a friend posted this image on Facebook a couple of months ago…
I wrote: "치즈 (chijeu) = cheese, 봉 (bong) = stick. I guess fishcake is just the default meat-stick option, and this is the cheese-flavored kind. I'd try it!"
Bill Benzon said,
November 10, 2018 @ 3:51 pm
Thanks, Victor.
David Morris said,
November 10, 2018 @ 6:38 pm
The most common bongs in South Korea are the ones attached to selkas (self-cameras) – otherwise called 'selfie sticks'.
[VHM: That was in my original draft, but I inadvertently left it out. Added now. Thanks.]