Korean Slang
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렉카
Do you know the meaning of “렉카” in Korean? “렉카[rek-kah]” is how Koreans pronounce “wrecker,” which means a tow truck. Nowadays, the word is frequently used to refer to yellow journalism on YouTube. To understand the etymology, we need to first understand the stereotypical perception of tow trucks in Korea. Tow Trucks in Korea Tow…
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오징어 지킴이
The literal meaning of ‘오징어 지킴이’ is a squid keeper. The word is a derogatory term for a woman who is overly protective of her husband/boyfriend. Calling someone ‘오징어 지킴이’ implies that no one cares to steal her husband/boyfriend because he is not that attractive in the first place. It has been for a while…
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할많하않
‘할많하않’ is simply an abbreviation of “할 말은 많지만 하지 않는다,” which means, “I have a lot to say but I won’t.” It’s one of the example where a plain sentence gained a deeper meaning and became a thing when people abbreviated it. Traditionally, Koreans use a lot of four character idioms that originated from…
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판춘문예
‘판춘문예’ is a certain type of writing style that is a trademark of the website called Nate Pann. Nate is an internet portal service that has been around since 1999. The portal had its short heyday in the mid-to-late 2000s, with its integration with Cyworld, a Korean social media service, and the success of Nate…
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덕질
‘덕질[deok-jil]’ is one of the words that show how dynamically Korean words can evolve. Let’s look at the etymology. The second syllable of the word, ‘질[jil]’ is a common Korean suffix. It is attached to nouns and makes the word mean an action related to the noun. For example, the word, ‘손가락질[son-ga-rak-jil],’ is a combination…