Then a Korean K-pop friend randomly said:
“Big wave, big wave, 피하지방~”
피하지방?
For a second, I genuinely wondered if I had learned the lyric wrong.
I was pretty sure it was 피하지 마 (pihaji ma), so where did 피하지방 (pihajibang) come from?
My friend explained the joke, and that was when I realized there was a funny little detail behind the NMIXX DICE meaning that I never would’ve caught from an English translation alone.
And yes, somehow this involves body fat. 😂
The Actual Line Is “피하지 마”
The part we’re talking about is:
“Big wave, big wave, 피하지 마”
The Korean expression:
피하지 마
Pihaji ma
means:
“Don’t avoid it.”
That fits the song pretty naturally. “DICE” has this adventurous, challenge-facing energy, so the idea of not backing away from a big wave doesn’t feel strange at all.
So far, everything makes sense.
Then one tiny space changes everything.
피하지 마 vs. 피하지방
This is the joke my friend was talking about:
피하지 마
Pihaji ma
and:
피하지방
Pihajibang
They look pretty similar, and when the song is moving quickly, they can sound close too.
Their meanings, however, are nowhere near each other.
피하지방 (pihajibang) is an actual Korean word meaning:
subcutaneous fat
Basically, the fat stored underneath your skin.
So the original line has the feeling of:
“Big wave, big wave, don’t avoid it.”
But the joke turns it into something closer to:
“Big wave, big wave, subcutaneous fat.”
That escalated quickly. 😂
The more I thought about how completely unrelated those two meanings were, the funnier the joke became.
I Actually Thought I Had the Lyrics Wrong
What made this one stick with me was my first reaction.
When my Korean friend said 피하지방, I didn’t immediately realize they were making a joke. I honestly started questioning the lyric I already knew.
Was it 피하지방 this whole time?
I went through the line again in my head because I was almost certain I’d learned 피하지 마.
Thankfully, I wasn’t wrong.
My friend explained that people had been jokingly singing the line as 피하지방 because of how similar the two can sound in that part of the song.
Once they explained what 피하지방 meant, everything clicked.
It wasn’t some alternate version of the lyric I’d somehow missed.
It was a Korean misheard-lyric joke hiding inside a song I already knew.
NMIXX DICE Meaning Gets Funnier Once You Hear It
This is also where translation starts to struggle.
In English, you basically have:
Don’t avoid it
and:
Subcutaneous fat
Those phrases have absolutely nothing in common.
If that’s all you see, there’s no joke to understand.
But compare the Korean:
피하지 마 — pihaji ma
피하지방 — pihajibang
Now you can hear where the joke comes from.
The funny part isn’t really the English meaning. It’s the sound of the Korean words and how easily one can turn into the other when you’re singing along.
That’s something I probably would’ve completely missed if my friend hadn’t mentioned it.
Unfortunately, learning the joke came with a side effect.
Now my brain keeps trying to hear 피하지방 when that part comes on.
Thanks, I guess.
Now Try Listening to “DICE” Again
If you’ve never heard this joke before, listen to that part of “DICE” again sometime.
The real expression is:
피하지 마
Pihaji ma
“Don’t avoid it.”
But now you also know:
피하지방
Pihajibang
“Subcutaneous fat.”
I’m not saying this information will improve your listening experience.
There’s a very real chance it’ll make things worse. 😂
I learned the correct lyric first, heard the joke later, and somehow the joke is now harder to get out of my head than the actual lyric.
Have you ever misheard a K-pop lyric so badly that the wrong version got permanently stuck in your head?