What happens when you become a mistake?

ANSWER: You die.

The Korean sentence 잘못하면 죽는다 can translate into English as "If you make a mistake, you die," so mistakes can be deadly, such as when one cuts the wrong wire while trying to defuse a bomb.

잘못 is the Korean word for "mistake," so 잘못하다 means "to make a mistake." And 잘못되다 can translate as "a mistake was made" or "something went wrong," used when the person who made the mistake is not mentioned. 잘못되다 can also translate as "to become a mistake." And, interestingly, Koreans also use 잘못되다 to mean "to die."

Last night I came across the following Korean sentence:

"숙환으로 병석에 계시던 할아버지께서 어젯밤 잘못되셨습니다."

The sentence translates as follows:

"Last night, grandfather, who had been sick in bed with a chronic illness, passed away."

However, the Korean sentence 할아버지께서 어젯밤 잘못되셨습니다 literally translates as "Last night grandfather became a mistake."

I suspect that 잘못되다 was originally a Korean translation of the English expression "become a statistic," which can mean that something bad, including injury or death, as happened to someone.

Can older people be cute?

ANSWER: Yes, but don't tell them that.

The Korean word for "cute" is 귀엽다, which is a friendly, complimentary word that can be used to describe both the appearance of things and the appearance and actions of animals and people, but do not use it to describe the appearance or actions of  Korean people older than you, especially not to their faces, because it would be considered rude, as if you were talking about or to a child instead of an adult.

For example, you could say, "아기의 웃는 모습이 참 귀엽다," which means "The baby's laugh (smile) is cute," but you should not say, "할머니의 웃으시는 모습이 참 귀엽다," which means "The grandmother's laugh is cute." Even if you are older than them, some teenagers may not like being described as "cute."

Why do guys always seem to be the ones late for dates?

ANSWER: Maybe to give the girls more time to think about them. Waiting to meet a boyfriend or girlfriend at a bus stop seems to be a pretty common practice in Korea. Waiting for her boyfriend at a bus stop, the girl in this song kills the time by doing some people watching and thinking about the boy she will soon meet. I like this song, but I am not sure if I like the lyrics, or maybe I just do not understand them well enough. Maybe I would understand them better if I were a girl. "버스를 기다리는 사람들," by HAIL (헤일 "People Waiting for a Bus" 이제 곧 널 만나는 시간 It's almost time to meet you.
이마엔 땀 송글 맺히고 Beads of sweat form on my forehead.
해는 아직 놀고 싶은지  Maybe the sun, still wanting to play,
일찍 날 불렀어 called me out early.

때마침 너에게 문자가 As if on cue, I receive your text:
아이고 어쩌지 반대로 탄 것 같아 "Oh no! I seem to have accidently taken the wrong bus." 멍청이 그래도 괜찮아 "You dummy! But it's okay."
여긴 꽤나 즐거워 "It's quite amusing here."

할머니 품에 안긴 아기 A baby held by its grandmother
날 보며 방긋거리고 keeps looking at me and smiling.
무거운 장바구니를 든 어머니 A mother holding a heavy shopping basket,
청소시간에 벌어진 일들을 Cleaning people cleaning,"
재잘대는 저 소녀들 Young girls chattering over there.

버스정류장이라는 It's called a Bus Stop,
마을엔 사람들이 살죠 a small village of people.
사랑을 기다리는 Waiting for love,

멀리 그 사랑을 발견하면 that faraway love, when discovered,
언제 기다렸단 듯 will be like having never waited.
함박웃음을 With a big smile,

한 번 더 너에게 문자를 I send you another text,
어디쯤이니 내일쯤 도착하니 "Where about are you? Will you arrive tomorrow?"
아니야 거의 다 왔는걸 "No, I'm almost there."
백을 세고 있어줘 "Start counting to a hundred."
할머니 품에 안긴 아기 A baby held by its grandmother
날 보며 방긋거리고 keeps looking at me and smiling.
무거운 장바구니를 든 어머니 A mother holding a heavy shopping basket.
만난지 얼마 안된 저 연인은 That love only recently met
우리 같네 참 예뻐 is like us: Quite lovely.

차분한 하늘 아래서 Under a calm sky,
천천히 널 생각하면서 I ponder you.
사랑을 기다리는 이들과 함께 With these people I wait for love,
널 기다려 I wait for you.

What does 혼족 mean?

ANSWER: a tribe of loners

The slang phrase 혼족 refers to people who like doing things alone. The 혼 in the word comes from the pure Korean word 혼자, which means "alone," and the 족(族) is a Sino-Korean word that means "tribe," so 혼족 literally means "a tribe of loners," which is oxymoronic since loners do not associate as a group. Here the word "tribe" just refers to similar-minded people. Other similar slang words that describe what loners do are 혼밥, 혼술, and 혼놀.

혼밥 means "eating alone," with the 밥 being the pure Korean word for "boiled rice" or "food." 혼술 means "drinking alone," with the 술 being the pure Korean word for "wine," "alcohol," or "liquor." And 혼놀 means "enjoy doing things alone," with the 놀 coming from 놀다, which is a pure Korean verb meaning "to play."

For more information on the words, Wikipedia has a rather lengthy English explanation of them HERE.