Girigo Journal
Field Notes from the Wish-Recording App
Lore, folklore, language, and the long literary history of asking for things you should not ask for.
Tonight's echo
“Let my mother stop crying for him.”
The toll
She forgot she had a son. The black-and-white photograph on the dresser was taken down and turned, frame to wall.
Apr 22, 20266 min read
True-Name Taboo: Why East Asian Folklore Treats Saying a Real Name Aloud as Dangerous
From Joseon court avoidance names to Han-dynasty 諱 to the way your grandmother still calls your father by his birth-order — a tour of the East Asian belief that a name spoken aloud is a name surrendered.
FolkloreLanguageRitual
Apr 18, 20265 min read
기리다 — How a Korean Verb for Mourning Became the Name of a Horror App
기리다 means to honor and to memorialize the dead. Bend the conjugation a little, and you arrive at 기리고 — and at one of the cleanest pieces of horror naming in modern Korean television.
LanguageFolkloreLore