K-pop singer Babi pleads with Malaysians to stop mocking her name

What happens when a pair of words sound the same but has different meanings in different languages?

In linguistics, it's known as 'false friends', but on social media, it has become ammunition for Malaysians to mock a K-pop singer who goes by the stage name Babi.

Babi (whose real name is So Young) is part of the South Korean girl group Fly With Me. Unfortunately, her stage name also happens to be the Malay word for 'pig', an animal which is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islamic law.

While the word itself isn't offensive, the negative association with pigs has made the word become an insult.

And it seems that Malaysians (according to Babi's claims) have flocked to her Instagram account to mock her stage name.

In a screengrab taken by digital publication The Rakyat Post, netizens left comments which referred to Babi as a "beautiful pig".

The comments ranged from "Why is this pig so beautiful" and "This is the most beautiful pig in the world", to "Babi, let's be friends. I want to be friends with a 'pig' because all this time, I can only say the word but can't be friends - now it is possible".

In response to the mockery, Babi pleaded with Malaysian netizens to stop. She wrote: "Malaysians who came here to mock my name have to see this post. Why are you doing this to me? Just because my name is your laughing stock? (sic)

"Are you [having] fun with this? I am not interested in your language. So it doesn't matter what my name means in your language."

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8hRBrHl2E/[/embed]

It's also a shame because the bullying has caused Babi to declare that she no longer wants to get to know Malaysia. She added: "I didn't know your country, but I don't want to know it anymore."

bryanlim@asiaone.com