What's the difference between a land turtle (육지 거북) and a sea turtle (바다거북)?

 ANSWER: The underarm odor (암내) of a land turtle smells sweaty (땀내), but that of a sea turtle smells fishy (비린내).

What does 별주부 (鱉主簿) literally mean?

 ANSWER: the Snapping Turtle Herbalist

The word 별주부 (鼈主簿) can translate as "snapping turtle" (자라), but it literally means "The Snapping Turtle (鼈) Herbalist (主簿)." An herbalist is someone who uses plants to make "herbal medicines," which were commonly used to treat various illnesses in old Korea and are still used in Korea today. So, in old Korea, an herbalist was essentially a doctor. Korean doctors also used the organs of animals to make tonics and medicines.

The word 별주부 comes from an old Korean fable entitled 별주부전, which can translate as "The Tale of the Snapping Turtle Herbalist." The story is also referred to as 토끼전, which can translate as "The Tale of the Rabbit." Here is my summary of the story:

The Dragon King of the South Sea (남해의 용왕) gets sick and none of the medicines in his sea kingdom can cure his illness. It seems the Dragon King may even die. After praying to Heaven for a cure, a supernatural being (신선) comes down and tells the Dragon King that he can cure his illness by eating the hot liver of a rabbit, which means the rabbit would have to be alive just before the Dragon King eats its liver. However, the rabbit is a land animal, so since the Dragon King, who has lived under the sea all of his life, does not know what a rabbit looks like, the supernatural being describes what a rabbit looks like and then disappears. 

When the Dragon King asks for a volunteer to go on land to capture a rabbit for him, at first no one steps forward, but then the Snapping Turtle Herbalist says he will go if he has a drawing of what a rabbit looks like. The Dragon King orders the abalone (전복) to describe a rabbit while the royal artist draws a picture of one based on the description. The Snapping Turtle Herbalist then takes the drawing and leaves the sea kingdom to go find a rabbit on land. 

Once on land, the Snapping Turtle Herbalist meets a fresh-water turtle (남생이) who points him in the direction he should go to find a rabbit. The Snapping Turtle Herbalist eventually finds a rabbit and tricks it into going back with him to the sea kingdom of the Dragon King. When the rabbit gets to the sea kingdom and realizes that the Dragon King is about to cut open his belly and eat his liver, the rabbit lies and says that he had taken out his liver and left it on land before coming to the sea kingdom, but says he is willing to go back and get it. The Dragon King believes him and lets him go back to land with the Snapping Turtle Herbalist. 

Once safely back on land, the rabbit angrily chides the the Snapping Turtle Herbalist, saying, "How could I walk around without a liver, you dummy? "If you want to take something back to the Dragon King, take this rabbit poop. It is supposed to be good medicine." 

The Snapping Turtle Herbalist has no other choice but to take the rabbit poop back to the Dragon King, who eats it and is miraculously cured.

The above version of the story may be slightly different from other versions, but it is based on the Korean language one I read.

In the following Korean video, a woman tells the story of the Snapping Turtle Herbalist, using lots of interesting pictures and explanations, but she talks pretty fast.

What does 다반사 (茶飯事) literally mean?

 ANSWER: a tea (茶) and rice (飯) matter (事)

Koreans drink tea, Koreans eat rice;

한국인은 차(茶) 마시고, 밥(飯) 먹는다.

For them, it's a common, daily routine.

그들에게는 일상대반사(日常茶飯事)이다. 

The Chinese character for "tea" is 茶 (다), and the character for "boiled rice" is 飯 (반), so since 事 (사) can translate as "work," "occurrence" or "matter," the phrase 다반사 (茶飯事) can literally translate as "a tea (茶) and rice (飯) matter (事)." And since 일상 (日常) can translate as "daily," 일상다반사 (日常茶飯事) can translate as "a daily event" or "an everyday occurrence (affair)."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

Can you learn Chinese characters without learning to write them?

 ANSWER: Yes, but it is harder.

I like the guy in the video below, and the friendly way he talks, but I disagree with him on the need to write Chinese characters. He suggests that Koreans only need to learn to read them, not write them, since Koreans do not generally write in Chinese characters these days. But the reason you need to practice writing Chinese characters is that writing them helps you remember them. Writing a Chinese character is a test of your understanding of the character. If you cannot write the character, then you do not ready understand it. Not knowing how to write a Chinese character is like not knowing how to spell a word in English or Korean. Just being able to read a word doesn't mean you really know the word.

Also, since Chinese characters are often composites of two or more characters, writing a Chinese character helps to refresh your memory of the characters that combine to form the character. For example, the Chinese character 明 (명), which means "bright," is made by combining the characters for "sun" (日 일) and "moon" (月)," so each time you practice writing 明 (명), you are also practicing writing 日 (일) and 月 (월).

Finally, I have found that writing Chinese characters relaxes me. Before you go to sleep at night, try writing ten different Chinese characters ten times each. I think you will sleep better.

What does 대담 (大膽) literally mean?

 ANSWER: big (大) gallbladder (膽)

My Korean-English dictionary defines 대담 (大膽) as "bold," "daring," or "intrepid," but it literally means "big (大) gallbladder (膽)." And it defines 담력 (膽力) as "courage," "pluck," or "nerve," but 담력 literally means "gallbladder (膽) strength or energy (力)."

The pure Korean word for gallbladder is 쓸개, and since the word 빠지다 can mean "be omitted" or "be missing," the phrase 쓸개(가) 빠진 놈 literally means "a man without a gallbladder," which can translate into English as "a man with no backbone" or "a man with no courage."

I find it kind of interesting that Koreans describe a man as being "bold," "daring," or "intrepid" by saying he has a "big gallbladder (대담 大膽)," while in the United States we often describe such a man as having "big balls" or "big cajones," which means "big testicles."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What does 호남 (湖南) literally mean?

 ANSWER: South of the Lake

The Sino-Korean word 호남 (湖南), or Honam, is another name for the region made up of both North and South Jeolla Provinces, but the word literally means "South of the Lake": 호 (湖) means "lake," and 남 (南) means "south." But to what lake is the word referring?

My Chinese character dictionary says that the lake was 벽골호 (碧骨湖), which literally means "Blue (碧) Bone (骨) Lake (湖)." It was a reservoir built during the time of Silla and was also called 벽골지 (碧骨池). It was located near Kimje City  (김제시) in North Jeolla Province, which at the time was part of the Baekje Kingdom (백제국 伯濟國). Today, the only thing that is left of the reservoir is part of its embankment, which is referred to as 벽골제 (碧骨堤) or "The Blue (碧) Bone (骨) Embankment (堤)." Some say that the embankment was actually a tidal sea wall.

But I am a little confused because I have also read that the 호남 (Honam) region was the region south of the Keum River (금강 錦江), which literally means "Silk (錦) River (江)." Apparently, an old name for the Keum River (금강 錦江) was 호강 (湖江), which literally means "Lake (湖) River (江). The river flows through part of North Jeolla Province (전라북도) and part of North Chungcheong Province (충청북도).

The founder of the Koryo Kingdom (고려), Taejo Wang Geon 태조 왕건 (~ 943), apparently did not trust people who lived south of the Keum River (금강) since he gave orders not to appoint anyone from that region to government positions. I guess there was some bad blood between Wang Geon and the people of Later Baekje (후백제), who lived in the Honam region.

When I was in the navy in Korea in 1978, I lived in a small 2-room apartment in the village outside the gate of Camp Humphreys. An old Korean woman who lived in the same compound stopped me one day and warned me, in Korean, not to trust anyone from Jeolla Province. It surprised me because it was out of the blue. So, even more than 1,000 years after the founding of the Koryo Kingdom, there are still Koreans who do not trust the people "South of the Lake."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From 활용대옥편: Chinese Characters Dictionary

What's the difference between 숫자 and 수효?

ANSWER: One refers to numbers in general, and the other to a specific number of things or people.

Tonight I was reading about the Tripitaka Koreana, which is a giant collection Buddhist scriptures that are stored at South Korea's Hapcheon Haeinsa (합천 해인사), when I came across the word 수효 (數爻) and wondered why the writer wrote 수효 for "number" instead of just 수. By the way, Hapcheon Haeinsa (합천 해인사) is a Buddhist temple that is located in Hapcheon County (합천군) in South Korea's South Gyeongsang Province (경상남도).

The Korean name for the Tripitaka Koreana is 팔만대장경 (八萬大藏經), which literally means "The Giant Collection of Eighty Thousand Scriptures." The reason Koreans call it the "The Giant Collection of Eighty Thousand Scriptures" is that it is a collection of Buddhist Scriptures carved on more than 80,000 wooden printing blocks, which would be the equivalent of about 330,000 pages, or 1000 books with 330 pages each. So, the 80,000 (팔만 八萬) does not refer to the number of scriptures but to the number of wooden printing blocks on which the scriptures are carved.

Anyway, here is the Korean sentence in which 수효 appeared:

팔만 권의 경전을 일컫는 말로 알기 쉬우나, 사실은 불경을 새긴 목판의 수효가 팔만 장이란 데서 나온 이름이다.

"It is called 80,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures for convenience sake, but the name actually comes from the number (수효) of wooden printing blocks on which the scriptures are carved."

So, why did the writer write 수효 for "number" instead of just 수 or 숫자?

First, the Korean word 숫자 (數字) literally means "counting (數) character (字)" and refers to numbers in general, not to a particular number, such as 80,000. My Korean-English dictionary translates 숫자 as "figure" or "numeral" and gives examples that use it in a general way, such as 숫자상의 잘못 for "numerical errors," and 정확한 숫자 for "precise figures." So Koreans wouldn't, or shouldn't, write  "목판의 숫자가 팔만장" to refer to the 80,000 wooden printing blocks, but rather "목판의 수효가 팔만장."

Second, I think 수 (數), by itself, could have been used to refer to the number of wooden printing blocks since it can mean "number" and is synonymous with 수효, but since 수 (數) can also mean "luck" or "fortune," maybe the writer used 수효 (數爻) to avoid any confusion.

Finally, the 효 (爻) in 수효 (數爻) means "trigram" and refers to the trigrams found in the "Book of Changes," and trigrams are essentially "number symbols," from what I understand, so, I'm guessing that 수효 (數爻) could literally translate as "counting (數) numbers (爻)."

The definition of 수효 (數爻) in my Korean-Korean dictionary is 사물의 낱낱의 수, which can translate as "the [total] number of individual things," but I think that the definition should also include "people" (사람). That would change it to 사물과 사람의 낱낱의 수, which could translate as "the [total] number of individual things and people."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What does 퇴짜 literally mean?

 ANSWER: the "reject" character

My Korean-English dictionary defines the word 퇴짜 (退짜) as "to refuse" or "to reject," but I have read that the word literally means "the reject (退 퇴) character (字 자)."

The Chinese character 退 (퇴) means "to withdraw" or "to retreat," but it can also mean "to refuse" or "to reject." And the 字 (자) character means "letter" or "character," as in "Chinese (漢 한) character (字 자)," which is pronounced /한짜/. So, the word 퇴자 (退字) is pronounced /퇴짜/ and literally means "the reject (退) character (字)."

During the Joseon Kingdom, goods that were sent to the Royal Court that were judged to be of too poor quality to give to the king where stamped with the Chinese character 退 (퇴) and rejected. So, the phrase "the 'reject' character" (퇴짜) came to mean "rejected" or "a reject."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What is the difference between 차례 (次例) and 차례 (茶禮)?

 ANSWER: One means "order" or "sequence," and the other means "ancestor memorial services."

My dictionary defines 차례 (次例) as "order" or "sequence," but it literally means "next (次) example (例)." And my dictionary defines 차례 (茶禮) as "ancestor memorial services," even though it literally means "tea (茶) ceremony (禮)." So, even though the two words are pronounced the same, their Chinese characters and meanings are different.

One may wonder why "tea ceremony" is defined as "ancestor memorial services"? The answer is that a tea ceremony was once part of the services that Koreans performed to memorialize their ancestors. I have read that the practice was ended near the beginning of the Yi Dynasty because it had become too much of an economic burden on people. Back during the time of Goryeo (고려), apparently there was a lot of tea drinking and it seems to have been an expensive habit. Today, 차례 (tea ceremony) is just one of three different ancestor memorial services that some Koreans perform each year, and Koreans now use liquor instead of tea. You can read about 차례 HERE.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

What does 촛농 literally mean?

 ANSWER: candle pus

The Korean word 촛농 is defined as "candle-wax droppings," but it literally means "candle (촛) pus (농 膿)." Why do Koreans describe melting candle wax as "candle pus"? Probably because the melting wax of a candle reminds them of pus oozing out of a sore.

The pure Korean word for "candle" is 초, but when certain other words are added to it to form new words, the spelling sometimes changes to 촛, as in 촛불, which is pronounced /촏뿔/ and means "candle fire" or "candle-light." And since 膿 (농) is the Chinese character for "pus," 촛농 literally means "candle (촛) pus (膿)."

By the way, the pure Korean word for "pus" is 고름, but, as far as I know, Koreans do not use 촛고름 to refer to "candle-wax droppings."

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

Does 배달민족 refer to "a race of delivery drivers"?

 ANSWER: No, but . . .

My Korean-English dictionary says that 배달 (倍達) was "(the earliest name for) Korea" and defines 배달민족 (倍達民族) as "the Korean race" or "the Korean people," but there is no solid historical evidence to support the claim that 배달 was the "earliest name for Korea."

The Chinese character 倍 (배) means "double" and 達 (달) means "reach," but "double reach" does not make any sense. However, 倍 (배) can also mean 등지다 (to become estranged) or 배반하다 (to betray), so could 배달민족 possibly mean "an estranged people" and be referring to the group of people that Wi Man (위만 衛滿) led out of China in 195 B.C.?

By the way, the Sino-Korean word for "delivery" is 배달 (配達), which has the same pronunciation as the 배달 (倍達) defined as "the earliest name for Korea." Though the 달 (達) character in both words is the same, the 배 characters are different. The 배 (配) in the 배달 (配達) meaning "delivery" means "couple," but it can also mean "귀양 보내다," which translates as "to banish" or "to exile," so that means 配達民族 (배달민족) could possibly translate as either "a delivered people" or "a banished people."

From Dong-A's Prime Korea-English Dictionary

What does 주구 (走狗) literally mean?

 ANSWER: running dog

My Korean-English dictionary defines 주구 (走狗) as "a tool," "a cat's paw," or "a puppet," but it literally means "running (走) dog (狗)," which refers to "hunting dogs" who do the biddings of their masters for scraps of meat.

According to Wikipedia HERE, the term "running (走) dog (狗)" is a pejorative term that has been used in China since the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) to refer to a "yes man" or a "lackey." And the Communist Chinese used to refer to allies of the United States and other capitalist countries as "imperialist running dogs."

By the way, for anyone who doesn't already know, the so-called "mainstream media" in the United States are the running dogs for the American Democratic Party and the Far-Left.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary