In Korea, an "Old world sycamore" (Platanus orientalis), or Oriental plane, is called either 플라타너스 (Platanus) or 버즘나무, which literally means "scabby (버즘) tree (나무)." 버즘 is a provincial pronunciation of 버짐, which means "scabs" or "scabby." Why do Koreans call a sycamore tree "a scabby tree"? Because the bark of a sycamore looks similar to scabby flaky skin.
To refer to an American sycamore, Koreans add 양, meaning "Western," to form the word 양버즘나무.
When I was in Korea, living in Incheon, there were big beautiful sycamore trees growing along the road near my apartment. I remember one day taking shelter under one of the trees during a sudden rain storm. The leaves of the tree were so broad and abundant that the tree provided good shelter from the rain. In fact, I was so impressed by the shelter of the tree that when I got back to my apartment I wrote the following poem:
ANSWER:No, a better translation would be "How would you feel if . . .?"
The following song by the Korean singer (or group) 헤일 (HAIL) is entitled "어떨 것 같아" with the translation "How do you feel?" written in parentheses. But the ㄹ in 어떨 indicates future tense or possibility, so 어떨 것 같아 would be better translated as "How would you feel" instead of as "How do you feel." Here is the phrase in context:
어떨 것 같아 내가 널 좋아하고 싶다고 말하면 좋아해도 된다고 말할 수 있겠어?
How would you feel if I said, "I want to like you?" Would you be able to say, "It would be okay if you liked me?"
So, instead of just saying, "I like you" (널 좋아한다), as American girls would normally say, this Korean girl is thinking about saying, "I want to like you" (널 좋아하고 싶다), which means she would essentially be asking permission to like the guy. Do Korean girls really need permission to like someone? No, but it sounds more submissive if they ask permission, I guess, which is a tactic that seems to work pretty well in Korea. In other words, the girl is thinking about asking the guy, "How would you feel if I said, 'I liked you?'"
I use Naver's dictionaries all the time, but today I found a mistake HERE in the site's Korean-English dictionary, which mistakenly defined 포경 (包莖) as "whaling" or "whale hunting." Though there is a Sino-Korean word 포경 (捕鯨) that means "whale hunting," it is formed with different Chinese characters than 포경 (包莖), which is a medical condition called "phimosis" that sometimes occurs with uncircumcised penises.
포경 (捕鯨), the word for "whale hunting," literally means "to catch (捕) whales (鯨)," while 포경 (包莖), the word for "phimosis," literally means "a wrapped (包) stalk (莖)," which refers to an uncircumcised penis.
The Korean word for "circumcision" is 포경수술 (包莖手術), which literally means "a wrapped (包) stalk (莖) operation (手術)," and that is essentially an operation that unwraps the upper part of the "wrapped stalk."
Actually, 수술 (手術), the Korean word for "operation," literally means "hand or manual (手) method or technique (術)." The 술 (術) in 수술 (手術) is the same 술 used in 기술 (技術), which my Korean-English dictionary defines as "art," "technique," "ability," "skill," or "(technical) know-how."
My Korean-English dictionary defines the Sino-Korean word 신낭 (腎囊) as "scrotum," but it literally means "kidney (腎) bag (囊)." The 낭 (囊) in 신낭 (腎囊) is the same 낭 used in 배낭 (背囊), which literally means "back (背) bag (囊)," but which my dictionary defines as "a knapsack" or "a pack."
So, why would Koreans refer to a scrotum" as a "kidney bag"? Probably because a testicle looks similar to a kidney, which looks similar in shape to a "bean." In fact, the pure-Korean word for kidney is 콩팥, which is a word composed of the pure-Korean words "bean (콩)" and "red-bean (팥)." The Sino-Korean word for kidney is 신장 (腎腸).
By the way, a Sino-Korean word for "penis" is 신경 (腎莖), which literally means "kidney (腎) stalk (莖)," which is right next to the "kidney bag (腎囊)."
There are two 애매하다 words in my Korean-English dictionary. One is a Sino-Korean word meaning "vague," and the other is a pure-Korean word meaning "innocent." So, in the sentence 애매한 법규가 애매한 사람 잡는다, the first 애매한 means "vague," and the second means "innocent."
The word 회자 (膾炙) literally means "raw meat (膾) [and] roasted meat (炙)," which are so popular with Koreans that they always seem to be eating them. As a metaphor, 회자 is also used to refer to expressions or sayings that are popular with Koreans. My Korean-English dictionary defines 회자하다 as "become the talk of all," "be a household word," and "be well-known to everybody."
Here is a Korean sentence using 회자하다 that I came across this morning:
한동안 회자됐던 표현을 빌리자면 작품이 살아야 비평이 산다.
If I can borrow an expression that was popular for quite a while, "A [literary or artistic] work must exist for criticism to exist."
By the way, my Korean-English dictionary defines 인구 (人口) as "population," but 인구 literally means "a person's (人) mouth (口)" or "people's mouths," so even though 인구에 회자된 표현 can translate as "a popular expression or saying," it literally means "an expression that has become raw and roasted meat in people's mouths."
My Korean-English dictionary defines 갈지자걸음 as a "staggering gait" or a "reeling gait," as one might walk if one were drunk, but it literally means "to walk like the Chinese character for to go," which is 之 (지).
When Koreans talk about Chinese characters, they first give the meaning of the character and then its pronunciation because there are many Chinese characters with the same pronunciations but different meanings, so Koreans refer to the 之 (지) character as 갈 지, which means "the 지 for to go." The Korean word for "to go" is 가다, which when used to described another word in a general way is written as 갈. In this case, 갈 is describing the character 之 (지). Koreans add ㄹ to verb stems when the verbs are used as general modifiers.
So, instead of walking straight, which I guess could be described as a 한일자걸음 since the Chinese character for "one" (한) is the straight line 一 (일), really drunk people often stagger and walk zigzag, similar to the Chinese character 之 (지), at least that is the way Koreans see it.
I'm not sure I translated 서방님 and 아낙 correctly, but today I saw 갈지자걸음 in the following sentence:
점심 먹고 바로 밭으로 온다던 서방님은 해거름이 다 되어서야 불콰한 낯을 하고는 갈지자걸음으로 나타났으니, 그 꼴을 본 아낙은 속이 끓어 어찌할 바를 몰랐다.
After saying he would come straight to the field after eating lunch, my brother-in-law appeared at sunset (해거름) flushed [from alcohol] (불콰한 낯) and staggering (갈지자걸음), causing the women who saw him to get extremely angry.
My Korean-English dictionary defines 너나들이 as "intimate friendship," and 너나들이하다 as either "be on intimate terms" or "be on a first-name basis," but 너나들이 seems to literally mean "someone who hears (and accepts) 너 and 나," which implies "a close friend."
너 and 나 are Korean pronouns that mean "you" (너) and "I" (나), but they are generally used only among close friends and relatives. Though the pronouns are friendly and intimate when used with close friends and relatives, they are considered impolite when used with strangers or casual acquaintances because they would sound arrogant or presumptuous. Likewise, Koreans generally use first names only with family and friends, not with strangers. In the United States, referring to a stranger by his or her first name is generally accepted as a friendly gesture, though some people may consider it presumptuous. Why? Because the United States does not have as much social formality as Korea seems to have.
I am not quite sure of the literally meaning of 들이, but I think that 들 is the modifying form of 듣다, which means "to hear," and 이 is a Korean suffix meaning "person," so, if I am right, 들이 would literally translate as "someone who hears." And that means 너나들이 would literally translate as "someone who hears [and accepts, without being offended, the pronouns] 너 and 나." In Korean, I think 너나들이 could be literally defined as '너'와 '나' 대명사을 받아들일 사람, which could translate into English as "someone who accepts the pronouns "너" and "나."
By the way, wouldn't it be much less complicated if Koreans could learn to accept 너 and 나 as acceptable pronouns for "you" and "I" in all social situations?
Today I read a fairly interesting essay in a book written by 천소영 entitled 우리말의 속살. The title of the essay was "부끄러움이 자랑스러움으로." I read the essay because it mentioned another Korean book I have entitled 흙 속에 저 바람 속에, by 이어령.
The article talks about how the Korean language has been overshadowed by other languages, first by the Chinese language, then by the Japanese language, and now by English and other European languages. The author mentions, for example, how almost all Koreans can sing the Korean folk song "아리랑," but none of them seem to know, for sure, what 아리랑 means. Why is that? The author believes that it is because Koreans are so focused on studying foreign languages that they do not have enough time or motivation to research their own language.
In the article, the author also mentions the time capsule that Koreans buried to commemorate the 600-year anniversary of the establishment of Korea's capital city Seoul. The time capsule is supposed to be opened in about 400 years, on Seoul's 1000-year anniversary. The author seemed to think it ironic that a time capsule meant to preserve the culture and history of Korea had written on it the foreign loanword "탐임캡슐" (time capsule) instead of a pure-Korean word.
Does the Korean language not have pure Korean words for "time" and "capsule"? Why can't Koreans come up with a pure-Korean word for "time capsule," maybe one that includes the pure Koreans words for "season" (철) and "egg" (알)?
사마귀 can be a confusing word because it can mean either "a wart" or "a praying mantis," so maybe that is why Koreans also use 무사마귀 to refer to "a wart." But what does 무사마귀 literally mean"?
The Sino-Korean word for "wart" is 우목 (疣目), even though my Korean-English dictionary shows it as a pure-Korean word, and 우목 (疣目) literally means "a wart (疣) eye (目)," which refers to a wart near an eye. And a wart near an eye often looks like "a tear." So, since the Korean word for "a tear" is 눈물, which literally means "eye (눈) water (물)," 무사마귀 might possibly literally mean either "water (무) wart (사마귀)" or "tear wart."
Some may wonder why "water wart" would be written as "무사마귀" instead of "물사마귀" since 물 means "water," not 무. It is because, in Korean, when the first word in a compound word (a word made up of two or more words) ends in a ㄹ, and the following word begins with a ㄴ, ㄷ, ㅅ, or ㅈ, then the ㄹ in the last syllable of the first word is often dropped. So, since the first word 물 (water) ends with a ㄹ and the next word 사마귀 begins with a ㅅ, the word 물사마귀 is pronounced and written as 무사마귀. The same thing happens with the words 겨우내 (not 겨울내), which means "all winter long," and 겨우살이 (not 겨울살이), which means "winter clothes." So, even though the Korean word for "winter" is 겨울, not 겨우," the ㄹ in 겨울 is dropped in 겨우내 and 겨우살이 because the 내 in 겨우내 begins with a ㄴ, and the 살이 in 겨우살이 begins with a ㅅ.
So, that makes me wonder why the Korean words for "winter days" (겨울날), "winter bird" (겨울새)," and "winter sleep" or "hibernation" (겨울잠) are not written as 겨우날, 겨우새, and 겨우잠? Did someone screw up?
By the way, some Koreans, and some other Asians, consider a wart near one's mouth to be lucky, so some Koreans call such a wart a 복사마귀, which can literally translate as "a lucky (복) wart (사마귀)" since 복 (福) means "happiness," "blessing," or "good luck."
Below is a great Korean-language video, with Korean and English subtitles, that explains the difference between "a callous (굳은살), "a corn (티눈)," and "a wart (사마귀)."
ANSWER:No, it means "a stick of rounded rice cake."
I have read that some younger Koreans think that 가래떡 is a vulgar way to refer to "stick rice cake" because when they think of 가래, they think of "phlegm" or "sputum," not "stick," but 가래 can also mean "a piece" or "a stick" of something, as in 가래떡 (a stick of rounded rice cake) and 가래엿 (a stick of rounded taffy). And 가래 is also used as a counter word for stick rice cakes and taffy, as in 엿 두 가래, which can translate as "two pieces of taffy."
My Korean-English dictionary defines 형설 (螢雪) as "diligent study," but the phrase literally means "fireflies (螢) [and] snow (雪)." The phrase is based on old Chinese stories about two men who were too poor to afford lamp oil to study at night, but both were so eager to study that one of them would gather "fireflies" (螢) on summer nights to study by their light, and the other would study in the winter by the moonlight reflecting off the "snow" (雪), so the phrase 형설 (螢雪) came to mean "diligent study."
The expression 해어화 (解語화) literally means "an understanding (解) language (語) flower (花)," which means "a flower that understands language." The 해 (解) in 해어화 (解語화) is the same 해 used in 이해하다 (理解하다), which means "to understand." The expression 해어화 was and, I guess, still is used to describe a beautiful woman as a talking flower.
My Korean-English dictionary defines 저돌하다 as "rush recklessly," "make a reckless [wild] rush," or "make a headlong rush," but 저돌 literally means "a wild boar (저) charge (돌)."
Though my Korean-English dictionary shows 저돌 as a pure Korean word, it is actually a Sino-Korean word formed from the characters 豬 (저), which means "pig" (돼지) or "wild boar" (멧돼지), and 突 (돌), which means "to collide" (충돌 衝突) or "to charge" (돌진 突進).
The 저 (豬) in 저돌 (豬突) is the same character used in 저육 (猪肉), the Sino-Korean word for "pork" (돼지고기). Some may wonder why the 猪 (저) in 저육 (猪肉) uses the character for "dog" (犭/ 犬 견) in its composition instead of the character for "pig" (시 豕). It is because 猪 (저) is a popular simplified form of 豬 (저).
By the way, when I try to type the Chinese characters for 저돌, I don't know why 豸 (치) appears in the composition of 豬 (저) instead of 豕 (시), but both forms represent the same character.
So, since 저돌 (豬突) is a Sino-Korean word instead of a pure Korean word, that means I have found another mistake in my Korean-English dictionary.
And at first, I thought I had also found a mistake in my Chinese character dictionary, which lists 豬水 (저수) as a word using the character 豬 (저), but "pig (豬) water (水)"?
The Sino-Korean word for "reservoir water" is 저수 (貯水), which literally means "saved or stored (貯) water (水)," not "pig (豬) water (水)." But my Chinese character dictionary says that 豬 (저) can also be used as a simplified form of 瀦 (저), which means "puddle" (웅덩이), so that means that 豬水 (저수) can also literally translate as "puddle (豬) water (水)."
ANSWER: I think it is 탁목조 (啄木鳥), which literally means "a pecking (啄) tree (木) bird (鳥)."
Instead of using the Chinese character for "bird" (鳥 조) in 탁목조, my Korean-English dictionary uses the Chinese character for "to build" (造 조), which is pronounced the same as the character for "bird" (鳥 조). I think it is just a mistake in my dictionary. There are not many mistakes in my dictionary, but I have found a few.
By the way, the pure Korean word for "woodpecker" is 딱따구리.
ANSWER: She is 80 years old, but the book of scholarly essays pictured below was published in 2002 to commemorate her 60th birthday, which in Korea would have been her 61st birthday (환갑).
The Chinese character 發 (발) means "to bloom" or "to come out"; 近 (근) means "near"; and 達 (달) means "to arrive at" or "to reach," but in the phrase 發近達 (발근달) the characters were not used for their meanings but rather for their pronunciations. Why? Because together the characters 發近達 (발근달) have the same pronunciation as the pure Korean phrase 밝은 달, which means "bright (밝은) moon (달)."
Before King Sejong invented Hangeul (한글), Koreans had to use Chinese characters to express themselves in writing, so to write "bright moon," they either had to use the Sino-Korean phrase 明月 (명월) or use the Chinese characters 發近達 (발근달) to represent the spoken pure-Korean phrase "밝은 달." The Chinese would have recognized 明月 as meaning "bright moon," but they wouldn't have recognized 發近達 as meaning "bright moon" unless they also spoke Korean.
In the video below, the speaker talks about 發近達 (발근달), but he also mentions 熱狗 (열구), which is the Chinese word for "hot dog." The Chinese character 熱 (열) means "hot," and 狗 (구) means "dog," so the Chinese borrowed the English phrase "hot dog" and literally translated it into Chinese.
ANSWER: I have read that they practice new songs to sing in the spring, and they don't forget their old ones. Other birds generally just sing their same old songs.
ANSWER:Someone who has given up on learning Chinese characters
한포자 seems to be an abbreviation of the Korean phrase 한자 공부를 포기한 자 (사람), which can translate as "someone who had given up on studying Chinese characters." I saw the phrase in the video below.
In the video, the narrator suggests that there are a lot of 한포자s in Korea and that they are at a disadvantage in Korean society since about 70 percent of Korean words are Sino-Korean words, which means the words are based on Chinese characters. That also means that foreigners trying to learn Korean are at a disadvantage if they don't know Chinese characters.
The video suggests that the reason many Koreans give up on learning Chinese characters is that many of the methods used to teach them are outdated. During the Joseon Kingdom, for example, many Koreans started their Chinese-character education by memorizing the "Thousand-Character Poem" (천자문 千字文), which introduces 1,000 characters, but many of the characters used in the poem are really too complicated for beginning students. The key to learning complicated characters is to first learn the components of those complicated characters. For example, it makes more sense to first learn the characters for the "sun" (日 일) and the "moon" (月 월) before learning the character for "bright" (明 명).
I am posting the video not because I agree 100 percent with the message but because I liked the way the message was presented. The book the video seems to be promoting looks kind of interesting, but I do not know enough about it to recommend it.
ANSWER:like (如) turning upside down (反) the palm of your hand (掌)
My Korean-English dictionary defines 여반장 (如反掌) as "(being) very easy" and "as easy as falling off a log," but the phrase literally means "like (如) turning upside down (反) the palm of your hand (掌)," which is usually a very easy thing to do.
The Chinese character 反 (반) can mean "to oppose" or "to be against," but it can also mean 거꾸로, which can translate as "inside out" or "upside down."
ANSWER:flowing (流) talk (言) [with] cockroach (蜚) words (語)
My dictionary defines the Sino-Korean idiom 유언비어 (流言蜚語) as "a groundless rumor," but the phrase literally means "flowing (流) talk (言) [with] cockroach (蜚) words (語)."
The Chinese character 蜚 (비) means "cockroach," but my Chinese character dictionary says that it can also mean "to fly," so 유언비어 (流言蜚語) could also literally translate as "flowing (流) talk (言) [and] flying (蜚) words (語)," I guess, but I think someone along the way just confused the Chinese character for "cockroach" (蜚 비) with the Chinese character for "to fly" (飛 비) since they both have the same pronunciation.
I like the translation "cockroach words" more than "flying words," and I think I will start referring to "groundless rumors" as "cockroach talk."
