“…the intercultural identity of Korean American students is
continually negotiated through their communicative interactions both with the
U.S. host culture and the Korean heritage culture”
Twinkie
In the clip above, actor John Cho,
who played Harold in Harold & Kumar
Go to White Castle made a reference to the term Twinkie. Twinkie is a slang
term used to describe Korean-Americans who are “yellow” on the outside and
“white” on the inside. Twinkies essentially look Korean but they are “white” in
terms of their complete assimilation into American culture. Twinkie is used to
describe a Korean-American who has neglected, or has a lack of Korean cultural
and social norms incorporated into their lifestyle. It is a term used mostly by
Korean-Americans to describe other Korean-Americans (Jung & Lee, 2004).
Fob or F.O.B.
F.O.B. stands for “Fresh off the
Boat”. Fob is a slang term used by Asian American groups, especially amongst Korean-Americans.
When referring to a Korean Fob specifically, the term Fob signifies a Korean
who has immigrated to the United States. A Fob usually makes little to no
effort to assimilate into American culture, thus preserving and strengthening
only their Korean ethnic identity (Jeon, 2007).
Twinkie vs Fob
The video below provides
some examples of Twinkie and Fob characteristics from the perspective of
various college students. In the video, Twinkies are referred to as
Korean-Americans and Fobs are referred to as Koreans. Though many of the
qualities described are blatant stereotypes, it does help paint a better
picture of the differences between the two identity categories.
My
Perspective
The terms Twinkie and Fob are
prevalent in discourse among Korean-Americans and even Korean international
students studying in the U.S. In my opinion, the terms Fob and Twinkie no
longer hold the same negative connotations as they once did. Initially, both
terms were created to refer to a Korean-American who was too much on one side
of the identity spectrum. Fobs are “too Korean” and Twinkies are “too White”
(Kang & Hackman, 2012).
From my own personal experience and
observation, I believe these slang terms are used today more loosely and only as
a way to distinguish between the different Korean groups living in the United
States. For example, during my undergraduate years at SUNY Binghamton, I was
involved in KASA or the Korean American Student Association. There was also
another active Korean organization on campus called BUKSA (Binghamton
University Korean Student Association). KASA was considered to be the Twinkie
group and BUKSA was known as the Fob group. KASA and BUKSA had many joint
events and members from both organizations maintained close friendships. It was
not uncommon for KASA members to refer to BUKSA members as Fobs, and for BUKSA
members to refer to KASA members as Twinkies. No one took offense to these
terms, as they were solely used for the purpose of distinction. There was no
competition of which group was better, and who was more Korean and who was more
American. The truth is that Twinkies are more “Americanized” and Fobs are more
“Koreanized” in terms of cultural beliefs, values, and assimilation. Both
groups accepted each other and had a lot to learn from the other. Fobs and
Twinkies can relate because ultimately, they are of Korean ethnicity and living
in the United States.
