[FEATURE] Of Park Jihoon’s different nicknames

From the ‘podongie’ who beat G-Dragon to PD101’s resident wink boy

It all started on March 9th, 2017. A photo of a youthful, enthusiastically smiling boy—with one of his eyes subtly closed in a wink—suddenly took over the Hallyu community online. The cute gesture, which netizens certainly did not fail to pick up, caused the said boy immense virality—his wink marking the first chapter of his story of fame.

The boy, who would then be known as the official ‘wink boy’ of idol project Produce 101 Season 2 (PD101 S2), is Park Jihoon.

He would later on successfully win the survival program in second place—with the impressive reputation of having the third rank as the lowest rank he has ever gotten all throughout the show.

In August 2017, Jihoon finally debuted as an undeniable all-rounder in WANNAONE, which only goes to show how wide the spectrum of his talents and abilities is. He was able to seize the chance to be part of 2017’s breakthrough group as its lead dancer (specializing in popping), sub-rapper (with some beatboxing on the side), and sub-vocalist—all while being an effortless visual for the team.

However, while a lot of people, specially Hallyu fans who are not Wannables (the official name of WANNAONE’s fan club) still only see Jihoon as the wink-slash-aegyo boy of PD101 S2, his fans will definitely beg to disagree with the notion that Jihoon’s cute image is everything that he has to offer.

The 19-year-old boy has a lot in store for us, and this is evident in the various and varied nicknames he seemed to have collected in his acting and idol career so far. Let’s look into the different sides and charms of Park Jihoon by listing down some of the names his fans—and himself—had cleverly and fondly coined for him.

Wink boy, Winkdongie, Park Wink Hoon, Winkingie

Jihoon’s wink during the end part of the first Pick Me (나야나) performance of PD 101 S2 trainees earned him a nicknames with the word ‘wink’ in it. Aside from being known as the resident ‘Wink Boy’ of the show, he was also called ‘Winkdongie’ which is a combination of two of his nicknames, namely, ‘Wink Boy’ and ‘Podongie’. ‘Park Wink Hoon,’ which changes the ‘Ji’ in his name into ‘wink,’ is another nickname in which his wink seems like it’s officially part of Jihoon’s identity as much as his name is.

Meanwhile, Wannables and Mays have a way of addressing Jihoon whenever he’s exhibiting extreme cuteness both on- and off-stage. He is a ‘Wingkingie’ to his fans, a nickname made up of ‘wink boy’ and baby (애기). It came about because he’s always in full aegyo mode, regardless of whether he’s doing it intentionally or not. (Although his fans might argue that Jihoon is always effortlessly cute, and we can never agree more!)

Due to his fondness for aegyo and his natural talent in being cute, Jihoon takes pride in coining famous catchphrases which, like their maker, had also found its way to intense virality. They’re being used by a lot of people, both artists and non-artists, in South Korea.

One of these is his well-received “Nae maeum soge, jeojang! (Save you in my heart!)” catchphrase which, due to its popularity, even received recognition from the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) as ‘The Best Catchphrase of 2017.’

With his wink and aegyo, Jihoon definitely made sure we will save him in our hearts—no questions asked!

Podong / Podongie, Ddungssi

Jihoon’s aegyo’s, boosted by his cute catchphrases, are already attacks fatal enough for his Mays. These are usually done through Jihoon’s conscious efforts— hosts of shows WANNAONE guested on before often asking Jihoon to show them his famous aegyo acts, a request he had always obediently complied with.

And so, how much more dangerous is it for Mays’ hearts if Jihoon acts cute both effortlessly and unintentionally? Say, for example, when he unconsciously pouts while in deep thought, or whenever he naturally puffs his cheeks out as he slouches cutely while seated?

Fans call this kind of Jihoon, ‘Podong’ or ‘Podongie.’ Originally used by eight-year-old Jihoon in his introduction when he was a guest of the show ‘KM Idol World’ together with idol group Big Bang in 2007, ‘podong’ originally means ‘chubby’ in Korean.

It was in KM Idol World where young Jihoon defeated G-Dragon after the little ‘podongie’ succeeded in producing tears faster than the Big Bang leader. Whether this is all thanks to Jihoon’s child actor roles which involved a lot of crying or not, being able to beat a Hallyu star like G-Dragon is surely something Jihoon won’t ever forget.

Fans use the ‘podongie’ nickname to refer to Jihoon in his early acting days—during those times when he still had a very apparent chubby and squishy cheeks—as well as whenever he shows child-like gestures and innocence.

‘Ddungssi,’ on the other hand, is another variety of the word ‘chubby’ in Korean. It is said to be Jihoon’s mom’s nickname for him, among many others.

얼굴천재, WinkOp

Of course, as fans call cutie Jihoon using different kinds of names, they won’t miss having nicknames for the manly and handsome sides of him as well!

얼굴천재 (eolgul cheonjae), which means ‘genius face,’ perfectly represents how unbelievably beautiful Jihoon’s face is. Even as a trainee, he was already recognised for his visuals and a reputation for having an overly-handsome face.

It’s no wonder why he was one of WANNAONE’s visuals, and is acknowledged by the Hallyu community as one of the most handsome idols in the industry today.

Meanwhile, ‘WinkOp,’ short for ‘wink oppa,’ is Jihoon’s fans term of endearment for him every time he shows his manliness on-stage.

As Jihoon puts on display his cute and boyish charms most of the time, appearances of ‘WinkOp’ during performances were treated as real gems by Wannable’s and May’s. The intensity of Jihoon’s dance moves, as well as his piercing gaze and eye-catching expressions every time he performed, would never be missed by any fan who loves his manly side as much as his adorable one.

With this, we shall know that ‘WinkOp’ is the opposite of ‘Wingkingie,’ as manly is the contrary of cute. With both of these personalities being perfectly expressed by Jihoon, the possibilities regarding his future performances are endless and surely worth-anticipating.

Purin / Pink Sausage

Jihoon seems to have fondness for the color pink, and his fans were able to point this out a couple of times—eventually leading them to coin nicknames specially devoted for Jihoon and his love for pink!

Purin (푸린) is the Korean name of the round, pink-colored Pokemon, Jiggly puff. In episode nine of PD101 S2, Jihoon wore an all-pink outfit—from his hat, to his sweater, to his pants—while practicing for a performance. Fans immediately noticed how he easily resembled the cute pink Pokemon—especially when he suddenly pouted in one of the behind clips of the show!

Jihoon would later reveal that he actually really likes pink and wears pink-colored clothes and garments a lot.

His love for pink seems to have reached and influenced another member of WANNAONE and Jihoon’s fellow rapper, Park Woojin. After revealing in one of their shows that they own matching pink overalls, the two, later on, formed an unofficial subunit called the ‘Pink Sausage / Pink Sausage brothers.’

It is uncertain as to why Jihoon has much love for the color pink, but one thing is for sure: Jihoon definitely looks good in pink—as much as he looks good in every single color out there!

Jigoo

Last, but definitely not the least (and perhaps the purest of all nicknames Jihoon has) is the nickname ‘jigoo,’ which Jihoon himself wrote as his nickname in his PD101 profile.

‘Jigoo,’ in Korean, means ‘earth’—a very unlikely nickname to have. Because of this, fans grew curious as to what this nickname mean for Jihoon. It wasn’t until a fan asked him during a WANNAONE fan signing event, that everyone knew what his ‘jigoo’ nickname really means.

Jihoon pointed out that the nickname stands for ‘to dream of world peace,’ and God knows how his fans grew twice fonder of him than they originally are! How sweeter and purer can he get?

After learning about the meaning of Jihoon’s ‘jigoo,’ nickname, Wannables and Mays couldn’t agree more with the idea that Jihoon’s pureness and innocent intentions could certainly bring peace to this planet.

After WANNAONE’s disbandment early this year, Park Jihoon officially became a solo artist under Maroo Entertainment. He has yet to debut with his first set of songs, but Jihoon already recently featured in his fellow WANNAONE member Ha Sungwoon’s first solo track, ‘Don’t Forget.’

Jihoon also just successfully held his ‘First Edition’ solo fan meeting in Seoul last February 9, gathering an astounding total number of 7,000 Mays dedicatedly cheering and rooting for him.

Right now, the public surely has its eyes on this 19-year old who has been exhibiting great potential and is promising a great future for the Hallyu industry. With his different nicknames come the different sides of him that he is ready and confident to present to the world—and we believe he still has a lot for us than what he has already shown us so far.

This anticipation for his career as an idol-actor, paired with the excitement for the charms he has yet to shower us with, is what we shall count on and firmly hold onto as we wait for Jihoon’s official solo debut in the near future.

So that when it finally happnes, we will be ready to coin more nicknames for him—names worthy to be used to call the very precious boy that is Park Jihoon.

Jihoon’s Filipino Mays, you have the chance to catch him live on March 15th, Friday, 7 pm at the Smart Araneta Coliseum! The ticket-selling starts on February 24th, 12 PM, so make sure you have your funds ready for our wink boy!