Sunday, February 03, 2008

Why don't they just say "매우"?

I have been studying Korean for a long time, but I still find it quite difficult to understand a group of young Koreans engaged in excited conversation, and one of the reasons it is so difficult is that they love to use slang. Here is a good example.

The word 매우 is a nice Korean adverb that means "very." I like it, but, for some reason, young Koreans seem to hate it because they have invented all kinds of slang expressions to replace it. Here are a few of them:
  • 대따
  • 대빵
  • 되게
  • 디따
  • 딥따
  • 억수로 겁나게
  • 억시기
  • 열라
  • 절라
  • 존나
  • 졸라
  • 콜라리
  • 허벌나게

I hate Korean slang because I think it is hurting the language, but I especially hate slang that replaces nice Korean adverbs.