Family Swap: Jon and the Kim Girls

The Guest on 2/1/2022 8:45:03 PM
Episode last modified by The Guest on 2/5/2022 2:49:54 PM

940 hits, 98 views, 2 upvotes.

Return to Parent Episode
Jump to child episodes
Jump to comments

(_Author's Note: Rebranched this elsewhere, see https://fictionbranches.net/fb/story/3782725_) "Let's go Jon!" Sarah grabbed his hand, and he could see her cheeks flare red. Jon followed her lead, unsure how his night would go. The more he watched her, the more he did see aspects of the Sarah he knew, if toned down. Yeong-Ja Kim was many things Sarah McMillan hadn't been. She was a dedicated student...possibly because of the strict influence of her parents. She read a lot of books, partially because her parents strictly controlled her screen time. In a few years, when she grew up, she would be a cute teen...but not exactly the sexy knockout she'd been as the head cheerleader. He wasn't sure she was cut out for cheerleading, as she was pretty awkward now, although she was a kid with a clearly gigantic crush on a boy who was now five years older than she was. On the way, he spotted an even younger girl, several years younger than Sarah, sitting at the dining room table, working on schoolwork. She looked to be maybe seven or so, he wasn't sure. "Hi, Jon!" She said. "Jon is going to listen to me practice my solo," Sarah told her. "Nuh-uh...Umma said we have to finish our homework first," the girl said. Sarah shot her a look, which would have been at home on her former self...annoyance that her little sister was interrupting her attempts to spend time alone with Jon. Jon looked at both of them. "She's right...I can hear your violin afterward." Sarah looked almost adorable as she relented, and went to get her books. She sat next to her sister. "Susan, why don't you tell Jon how your soccer game went?" Seo-Jun 'Susan' Kim looked down. "I didn't get to play..." she said. Jon paused, on two levels. One...was that...Susan...his sister yesterday and Sarah's mother the day before? "Why didn't you get to play?"

This one said it is female? https://www.peanut-app.io/blog/korean-baby-girl-names I admit, my Korean is nonexistent.

The Guest

2/3/2022 10:45:49 PM

I wish I could continue this, but I don't know enough about soccer or eight-year-old girls to formulate a plausible answer from Susan. BTW, Seo-jun (neat "Susan" sorta-soundalike!) is normally a male name in Korean. It was the #1 male name in South Korea in 2019. But I have known a Korean woman whose name sounded like a man's name in Korean, so why not? The only trouble I have is coming up with a Korean name component pronounced "jun" that could be interpreted as masculine. ("Seo" can be a female Korean name component.) Maybe in the current reality, Susan's mother wanted a son and stuck with the name she would have given a son! I was a bit surprised to see the name "Yeong-ja" for a young girl because "-ja" is an old-fashioned suffix, a remnant of the Japanese colonial period - a Korean translation of "-ko" in Japanese girls' names. ("-ko" is now similarly out of style in Japan.) I once ran into a group of elderly Korean women born during Japanese colonial rule, and their names ended in "-ja." I liked the use of "Umma"! Although it's unrelated to English, it sounds just enough like English mommy-words to be understood in context.

pakkwiman

2/3/2022 9:29:47 PM