"고래를 잡읍시다!"
Translation:Let's catch the whale!
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"Catching the whale" is a Korean expression for circumcision. Most Korean boys get this done at around 12 years old an this is what the kids say. i.e. Jin is absent today because he's catching the whale.
Right. Fortunately more and more parents are aware of its harms and choose not to get their kids circumcised nowadays, and my parents decided not to catch mine. Thanks mum and dad! -blows a kiss-
I am very surprised by this fact. Because I used to think that circumcision is a religious thing. What I know is that Muslim people and Jewish people are the only people who do this to their boys. In Tunisia (My country / Islam is the dominated religion) all boys are getting the circumcision, but at an early age : between 3 and 7 years but can be before 3 as well. In Egypt, a friend told me that it's done before the boys turns 1 year old.
In America is very common practice for infants. I'm not particularly well versed in the exact pros and cons but my understanding is that circumcision often leads to simpler hygiene and less possibilities for infection.
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There's a kernel of truth in there, but according to Wikipedia it spread mostly due to:
1) The germ theory of disease making the wider public "suspicious of dirt and bodily secretions". 2) The belief that it would discourage masturbation, which was viewed as physically and mentally unhealthy. 3) As a class marker of those wealthy enough to afford a hospital birth.
There are some minor health benefits, but none significant enough to really justify violating a person's autonomy and causing them pain for something medically necessary. The main benefits come from lowering the chance of transmitting STDs, and that's obviously irrelevant for babies and children, so they could easily be given the choice to have it done when they're older.
I don't think most people think about it that hard, though. They just have it done because that's what they think is normal. My parents said they had it done because they worried I would get teased in the locker room if they didn't. My autonomy never crossed their mind. Let's just make a painful, unnecessary, and irreversible body modification to a baby because he might look different otherwise.
I have no fundamental problem with circumcision. I do have a problem with doing it to babies when it's not medically necessary. Sorry for the novel lol
In Jewish tradition the circumcision of the boys is exactly on the 8th day after the infants birth.
I used to think that Jin is trying to write something in Japanese (Kore Wa if I'm right)
They are not promoting whale hunting. It is just a sentence, and it is a useful expression to know if you genuinely want to learn Korean.
If you are worried about actual whale catching it doesn't actually mean that, when said in Korea, "Catching the whale" means to get circumcised, which can also be bad, depending on one's beliefs. Duolingo probably doesn't want to actually promote whale hunting
Not all whales are endangered, and subsequently not all whale catching is necessarily unsustainable. (E.g. see the whale fishing in Norway.) (2020-06-01)
