The Common But Crude Misreading Of K-Drama “Sh**ting Stars” Title Is Actually Intentional
Everyone has been anticipating tvN‘s new K-Drama Sh**ting Stars due to its great cast and plot. It stars model, actress, and singer Lee Sung Kyung and actor Kim Young Dae as PR team leader Oh Han Byeol and star actor Gong Tae Sung, respectively.
Oh Han Byul leads an entertainment agency’s PR team. One of her top clients is star Gong Tae Sung who does no wrong. They went to the same university, where he became her sworn enemy. They bicker but soon develop feelings for one another.
— IMDb
Still, there is one thing that netizens can’t get over… It’s the title.
Of course, while it is meant to be pronounced as Shooting Stars, it is always stylized as Sh**ting Stars, representing two stars in place of the “o”‘s.
Consequently, netizens are saying that rather than look like stars, it appears censored as asterisks are usually used to omit something. So, they are commonly used to remove letters to censor curse words.
@rakuten_viki Watch Sh**ting Stars, premiering 4/23, only on Viki! ✨💫💙 #별똥별#KimYoungDae#LeeSungKyung#이성경#김영대#ShootingStars#kdrama#kdramas#shoutout#dorama#fyp
Therefore, many are struggling to read the title. Rather than Shooting Stars, the brain fills in the blanks to read Sh*tting Stars rather than Shooting Stars.
there’s a Kdrama on right now that decided to officially stylize the title as “Sh**ting Stars” and I absolutely can’t not read it as “Shitting Stars” every time I see it on the tl
— Shannon (@shantylocke) April 24, 2022
random thought but why is the title written as “sh**ting stars” idk but i find the * unnecessary, my sister who didn’t know the literal title thought it was shi*ting stars cause it looks like the title was censored 😭😭😭
— dea✨ (@damshiksummer) April 23, 2022
Rakuten Viki even has the “uncensored” version as an alternative title in its listing for the K-Drama.
It has everyone wondering who thought it was a good idea to stylize the K-Drama’s title this way. Was it an honest mistake? Well, it might actually be the case that it was intended to have this crude misread.
shooting stars being stylized like sh**ting stars makes me laugh every time like who thought that would be a good idea 😭
— liz 🌱 (@yoonsaeboms) April 21, 2022
Sh**ting Stars is the English title given for the K-Drama. The original Korean title is basically “별들의 똥을 치우는 별별 사람들” which gets shortened to “별똥뼐” (Byeolttongbyeol, shooting stars). The phrase means “cleaning the poop of stars (celebrities)” because the drama focuses on those working in public relations, a job that frequently works with cleaning up celebrities’ scandals. In Korean, the title is a play on words because “똥” in “별똥별” (shooting stars) means poop.
Likewise, even episode titles reflect this. Episode 2’s title is even translated differently due to this complication. While one streaming service has is titled “The War of Sh**ting Stars,” another calls it “Star and Poop Star a war in the field.”
@kdramabride I love💩stars🤩 #shootingstars #kimyoungdae #leesungkyung #kdramalover #koreandrama #kdramafyp #kdramatok
♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
So, while the English translations cannot obviously contain the clear Korean pun, the asterisk stylization is a fun alternative that communicates the same humor.
NSFW Moments
Share This Post
