Saturday, April 18, 2020

What does 낯가림 mean?

ANSWER: to be afraid of or shy of strangers

낯 means "face," and 가림 is the noun form of 가리다, which can mean "to distinguish" or "to discriminate," so 낯가림 literally means "facial (낯) discrimination (가림)." It is usually used to describe infants or young children who are shy of or afraid of strangers, something that is also referred to as "stranger anxiety." I mention the word because I came across an example sentence in my dictionary that seems to mistranslate it. Here is the sentence:
아기들은 낯가림할 수 있는 무렵이 되면 잘 보챈다.
"Babies fret [are fretful] when cutting their teeth." 
"Cutting their teeth" refers to when babies first start getting their teeth. That would translate as 이가 나다, not as 낯가림하다."


Anyway, what I really want to talk about is the verb 보채다, which besides meaning "to fret" or "to make a fuss," can also translate as "to pester," something that children often do. Another word that means "to pester" is 조르다, which, interestingly, can also mean "to tighten." Here is a photo of the definition of 조르다 from my dictionary:


Finally, I would like to mention the word 볶다, which besides meaning "to parch" or "to pan fry," as in the word 볶음밥 (pan-fried rice), can also mean "to pester." So, 나 좀 볶지 마라 can translate as either "Please stop pan-frying me" or "Please stop pestering me." If someone is pestering you a lot, you can use 들볶다 instead of 볶다. The 들 in 들볶다 is a pure Korean prefix that means "a lot" or "excessively" (몹시, 굉장히). But 들볶다 can only mean "to pester," not "to pan fry." Here are a couple of example sentences using 들볶다 from my dictionary:
며느리를 들볶는다  [She] torments her daugter-in-law.
그 여자는 남편을 항상 들볶는다 She henpecks her husband all the time. 

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