The twisted meaning of Squid Game’s Mingle song where ‘Round and Round’ lyrics are super ironic

Right now, thousands of people are recreating the Squid Game’s Mingle scene on TikTok, using the ironic lyrics for their renditions of Thanos’ viral dance and the mayhem that followed.

There is no denying that Squid Game has been a viral sensation. From the iconic robot in Red Light, Green Light, to the “I’ve played these games before” meme, just about every social media platform is brimming with Squid Game content – and it doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon.

Most recently, TikTokers have adopted the Mingle song – a popular nursery rhyme in South Korea – for the site’s usual brand of dance challenges, which is just a polite way of saying most of them are awful. Sorry.

What are the lyrics of Squid Game’s mingle song in English?

In episode five of season two, just an episode before his untimely death, Thanos was having a grand old time acting the fool in the Mingle game. It saw the players span around on a moving platform before being forced to form groups to avoid death. It was arguably one of the more brutal scenes of the season, and one made considerably more twisted by the fluffy nature of the lyrics in English.

The Mingle lyrics in English are as follows:

Round and round, clap!
Let’s spin around and dance together
Clapping our hands, clap!
Singing our songs, clap!
La la la la, let’s joyfully dance
Ring-a-ring-a-ring, ring-a-ring-a-ring
Hand in hand, all together
Let’s happily jump around!

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As you should be able to tell, the nursery rhyme – called 둥글게 둥글게 in Korean – is South Korea’s version of Ring a Ring o’ Roses’ or Ring a Ring o’ Rosie. It’s particularly popular in Taman Kanak-Kanak, the South Korean equivalent of kindergarten or nursery school, and was originally composed in 1971 by Jeong Geun and Lee Su-in.

@dimitribeauchamp

Excuse me while I learn the Korean lyrics to this song #squidgame #squidgame2 #squidgameedit #netflix #gihun #leejungjae #southkorea

♬ Round and Round Mingle Song Squid Game 2 – Chico Guerra

The Mingle lyrics in romanised Korean are as follows, according to CapitalFM:

Dunggulge dunggulge, jjak
Binggeulbinggeul doragamyeo chum-eul chupsida
Sonppyeogeul chimyeonseo, jjak
Noraereul bureumyeo, jjak
Rallallalla jeulgeoupge chumchuja
Ringga ringga ringga, ringga ringga ring
Sone soneul japgo modu da hamkke
Jeulgeoupge ttwieo bopsida

Obviously, much like the rest of Squid Game, the Mingle game takes something inherently innocent and light-hearted and warps it into a twisted take on childhood. I’m willing to bet that in South Korea, it would have the same effect as One, two, buckle my shoe in A Nightmare On Elm Street. It’s also worth noting that while not directly related, the western version of the nursery rhyme pays tribute to the black death plague.

While this article won’t improve your dance movies in the TikTok challenge, at least you’ll know what the lyrics mean.

Featured image credit: Netflix

Squid Game 2 is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.