The word “subunit” became a buzzword on local Twitter on Monday, February 13 after a newscaster mispronounced the term.
In a circulating video on social media, PTV anchor Dianne Medina was reporting about the debut of K-pop group Twice‘s sub-unit Misamo.
subunit 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/qowufkO7VA
— saint 🧸 (@bop4minyo) February 12, 2023
Citing a report from the Korean entertainment portal Soompi, Medina announced that Mina, Sana and Momo will debut as the K-pop girl group’s first sub-unit in Japan on July 26, 2023.
RELATED: Twice Japanese sub-unit Misamo to debut this July
Following Medina’s viral video, the term “subunit” became an instant inside joke among the Filipino K-pop community online.
kpop girl group na twice, mag dedebut sa japan bilang subunit pic.twitter.com/DauhY4LOgl
— Dream Chaser Suho (@vicentejian) February 13, 2023
Other online users poked fun at the term by using it in a sentence.
Linya-Linya was referring to the word “sabunutan” or pulling of hair.
e kung subunitin kita?
— Linya-Linya (@linyalinya) February 13, 2023
A Twitter page, on the other hand, used it as a play on veteran actress Jean Saburit’s name.
Sikat na artista lalo na sa kontrabida roles. Jean Subunit. Korni bwiset https://t.co/HPWrb4Rgoe
— AltABSCBN (@AltABSCBN) February 12, 2023
Some social media users thought that Medina probably presumed that “subunit” is a Japanese term, hence her pronunciation without space or dash.
After the newscast gained traction, Medina posted another video doing the same report. This time she correctly pronounced the term sub-unit.
In the comments section, Medina said there was no hyphen or dash in the teleprompter, hence her pronunciation. She also said this was a lesson learned for her.
“At least lesson learned [not] to rely sa prompter and script,” she commented.
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What is a subunit?
In K-pop, a sub-unit refers to a smaller group of idols from the same group that produces music and content. A sub-unit can be a pair, trio, or more.
“Sub-units allow the members to branch out from their usual image and explore more sides of their artistry, so they’re an essential part of K-pop,” Soompi reported.
Legendary boy group Super Junior was the first K-pop group to have a subunit. It is called Super Junior K.R.Y. which is represented by Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung.
The sub-unit’s debut song was “The One I Love,” the official soundtrack of a K-drama “Hyena” which was released in November 2006.
Here are some of the sub-units of different K-pop groups.
Some examples of sub-units of different K-pop groups are Red Velvet’s Irene and Seulgi, EXO’s CBX (Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin), EXO’s SC (Sehun and Chanyeol), Girl’s Generation’s Oh!GG (Taeyeon, Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Yoona), and SEVENTEEN’s BSS (Hoshi, DK, and Seungkwan),
