November 10, 2010

Shocking korean idioms - Top 3

Rank 3rd

At a restaurant
One friend speaking to another

"내가 쏠게. (I'll shoot.)"

When Koreans treat their friend, the correct way to say is:
"내가 한턱 낼게. (I'll treat you.)"

But most people use this idiom informally.
Foreigners who learned Korean would wonder why it has something to do with gun shooting. The answer is that we don't know either :P

Rank 2nd

At a beauty parlor
Customer  speaking to hair designer

"앞머리하고 옆머리는 죽여주시고, 뒷머리는 좀 살려주세요.
 (Can you kill the bang and the sides and save the back head a little, please?)"

It sounds a bit dangerous, isn't it? As you might have gussed, 'kill' means 'to make the hair leveled and calm' and 'save' means 'to make volume'. And the funny thing is that hair designers understand better what kind of style you want when you use the idiom.

Rank Top 1st !!

After finishing hard work

"아, 정말 애 먹었다. (Ah, I really ate a child.)"

You might say WHAT?!!
Well, the word '애' has two different meanings; one is a child, and the other is pain, effort, or anxiety.
So it can be translated corretly like this:
"Ah, I really put an effort." or Ah, it was very painful."

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