Tears and Laughter Together Are Bad Luck

울고 웃고 그러면 똥구멍에 털이나온다.

엉덩이에 뿔난다 울다가 웃으면.

엉덩이에 뿔나는거는 나쁜의미인거야. 아빠도 잘 모르지만 그냥 나쁜거야.

친구들 도 다 그런얘기헸고 엄마한테도듯고.

사람이 아니라는거지. 짐승이 된다는거지.

If you start laughing in the midst of crying, you will grow hair out of your butt. Small horns will also grow out of your butt. When horns and hair grow out of your butt, it has a bad connotation.

It was spread amongst the younger generation in the 1970s in South Korea. It signifies that you have turned into an animal or are becoming a beast. Humans don’t have fur or anything coming out of their butts but some animals do.

Overall, the moral of the saying is that you should choose which mood you are in – do not be bipolar or wishy-washy. Literally it is saying that you should either cry or laugh, don’t try to do both. It transcends this literal situation to imply that one shouldn’t desire to do everything in life. Ultimately everyone has to pick and choose in life and cannot attempt to do everything or gain everything. Only bad things will come out of it if so.