ANSWER: 갱신 (更新) means "to renew," which suggests "extension," and 경신 (更新) means "to revise," which suggests "change." So, 갱신하다 is used when talking about "renewing" one's passport or driver's license, and 경신하다 is used when talking about breaking world records in sports or production records in manufacturing, which means those records are changed or "revised."
One of the interesting things about the two Sino-Korean words 갱신 (更新) and 경신 (更新) is that they both use the same Chinese characters. When the Chinese character 更 is pronounced as /갱/, it means "anew" or "again," but when it is pronounced as /경/, it means "to change" or "to alter." So, since the Chinese character 新 (신) means "new," the word 갱신 (更新) literally means "renew," and 경신 (更新) literally means "to change to (更) a new one (新)."
In the following definition of the Chinese character 更 (갱/경), notice that 갱신 (更新) is mentioned but not 경신 (更新). Also, notice that 갱신 is defined as "renewal" or "renovation," which could be suggesting that 갱신 can be used to mean both "to renew" (a driver's license) and "to revise" (a world record). In fact, when I looked up 경신 in my 2014 edition Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary, it was defined as "renewal" and then listed a reference to the word 갱신, which seemed to suggest that 경신 and 갱신 mean the same thing. In other words, my Essence dictionary is saying that 갱신 can be used both when talking about when renewing driver's licenses and breaking world sport's records.
By the way, I wonder if the word 갱신 (갱신) originally came about after people from certain regions of Korea started mispronouncing 경신 (更新). /갱/, for some reason, sounds like it might be a dialectical pronunciation.
A Guide to Chinese Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja (1982)
Minjung' Essence Korean-English Dictionary (2014)
In addition, my 1998 edition Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary seems to have gotten the meanings of 갱신 and 경신 mixed up, saying that 갱신 is used when talking about breaking world sport's records, and 경신 is used when talking about renewing driver's licenses, which is backwards from the way they are supposed to be used.
Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)
So, whom should one believe in regard to the meanings or 갱신 and 경신? Well, I believe the "Modern Girl," the girl who made the video below, and the Modern Girl's simple "hack" (꿀팁) for remembering the difference between 갱신 and 경신 is this:
계약을 갱신하다 (renew a contract).
기록을 경신하다 (break a record).
In regard to "contracts," however, the Modern Girl does point out that sometimes they are "renewed" (갱신) and sometimes they are "revised" (경신), which means that sometimes we might say, "계약을 갱신하다" (renew a contract), and sometimes we might say, "계약을 경신하다" (revise a contract).
ANSWER: Apparently, both 소고기 and 쇠고기 are now acceptable.
In Korea, 소 means "cow," and 고기 means "meat," but I had learned sometime in the late 70s or early 80s that the correct way to say "beef" in Korean was 쇠고기, not 소고기. Why? Because 쇠 is supposedly an abbreviation of 소의, which is 소 plus the possessive marker 의, so 쇠고기 literally means "cow's (소의) meat (고기)." Yet, when I was in Korea, many Koreans were saying 소고기 instead of 쇠고기. When that would happen, I would think to myself, "Wow! This Korean is poorly educated." Well, maybe those Koreans were not so poorly educated after all."
Even though 쇠고기 may have traditionally been the correct way to say "beef" in Korean, I have recently learned that since 1988, both 쇠고기 and 소고기 are considered correct, even though only 쇠고기 is listed in my Korean-English dictionary. In fact, it seems that now either 쇠 or 소 can be used to refer to almost anything related to cows. If you want to say "cow dung" in Korean, for example, you can apparently now say either 쇠똥 or 소똥, even though only 쇠똥 is listed in my dictionaries. And if you want to say "ghost of a cow" in Korean, in addition to "쇠귀신" (--鬼神), 소귀신 is probably now also acceptable, even though 소귀신 is not in my dictionaries.
By the way, be careful when ordering 우신탕 because 우신탕 can mean either "cow-ghost stew (牛神湯)," "cow-penis stew (牛腎湯)," or "spicy beef stew" (牛辛湯)." In the video below, they are apparently preparing "cow-ghost stew" (牛神湯 신우탕), which is stew that stupid people eat.
If you watch the video below on YouTube, you can see that the caption for the video reads as follows: "두거리 우신탕! 우신탕 당진점 - 해장하기 좋고 맛있는 국밥 (Woo Shintang (Korean beef soup), 牛神湯, 牛心汤)."
Both 벌리다 and 벌이다 can mean "to open," but 벌리다 is used in the sense of "spreading something open," like one's mouth or one's legs, while 벌이다 is used in the sense of "to open or start [a business]." The 벌 is both 벌리다 and 벌이다 is pronounced with a long vowel sound, so 벌리다 is pronounced as /버얼리다/, and 벌이다 is pronounced as /버어리다/.
Since 벌리다 and 벌이다 are so similar, Koreans sometimes confuse them, including the Koreans who compiled and edited my 1998 edition of Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary, where they used the following example sentence under the word 벌리다:
그는 식료품 가계를 벌렸다 (He opened a grocery store).
Yet, in the same dictionary, there is the following example sentence under the word 벌이다:
가계을 벌이다 (Open a store).
So, in 1998, even Koreans who were compiling dictionaries were confusing the words 벌리다 and 벌이다.
1998 Edition of Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary
Also, notice in the above dictionary that under the definition for 벌리다, they included the meaning "[늘어놓다] to lay out; arrange; spread; display"; even though that is actually the definition for 벌이다. So, no wonder Koreans were confusing 벌리다 and 벌이다 back in 1998. However, that mistake seems to have been corrected by 2014.
In my 2014 edition of Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary, the meanings of 벌리다 and 벌이다 seem to have been defined correctly.
2014 Edition of Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary
매우 크다 means "very big," and 매우 작다 means "very small," but even though one can use 굉장히 크가 to mean, "very big," one cannot use 굉장히 작다 to mean, "very small." Why not?
Because 굉장히 is normally used in colloquial speech to describe big or magnificent things, not small or petty things. Also, it is normally used to describe positive things rather than negative things, so, "굉장히 좋다" (very good) makes more sense than "굉장히 나쁘다" (very bad).
ANSWER: Koreans say that 이슬비 is rain that means "Stay (있으라)!" and 가랑비 is rain that means "Go (가라)!" Even though 이슬비 and 가랑비 can both be translated in English as "drizzle," Koreans think of 이슬비 as "a light drizzle," like "dewdrops" (이슬), and 가랑비 as "a heavy drizzle," which would mean that "a light drizzle" tells someone to stay, and "a heavy drizzle" tells someone to go. That would make sense only if "a heavy drizzle" is a sign that "a heavy rain (큰비)" is coming and that one should get home before it starts. The only drizzle lighter than 이슬비 would be 안개비 (misty drizzle).
When you are visiting a Korean's home and it starts to drizzle, if the host describes the drizzle as 가랑비, then he or she might be suggesting that you go (가라), but if the host describes it as "이슬비," then he or she might be suggesting that you to stay (있으라) longer. Or the host might not be suggesting anything at all. Jokingly, you could ask, "'가랑비'? Are you telling me to go?"
By the way, 보슬비 can also be translated as "drizzle" but seems to refer to "a quiet, gentle drizzle," one that comes without any wind.
ANSWER: It means "trivial, "insignificant," "small," or "petty."
The Chinese character 些 (사) in 사소 (些少) means "a few," "some," or "a little," so since the 少 in the word also means "few," the Sino-Korean word 사소 (些少) literally means "some (些) few (少)," which is pretty "trivial."
So what?
So, even though the character 些 (사) is not used that often in Korea, it is used in China with other characters to form some comparatives and other words.
一 (일) means "one," and 一些 (일사) literally means "a few more than one," so the Chinese meaning of 一些 is "some."
大 (대) means "big," and 大些 (대사) literally means "a little bigger," so the Chinese meaning of 大些 is "bigger."
早 (조) means "early," and 早些 (조사) literally means "a little earlier," so the Chinese meaning of 早些 is "earlier."
快 (쾌) can mean "quick," and 快些 (쾌사) literally means "a little quicker," so the Chinese meaning of 快些 is "quicker."
遲 (지) means "late," and 遲些 (지사) literally means "a little later," so the Chinese meaning of 遲些 is "later."
Also, the Chinese word for "this" is 這 (저), and the word for "that" is 那 (나). So, if you add 些 (사) to 這 (저), you get 這些 (저사), which means "these." And if you add 些 (사) to 那 (나), you get 那些 (나사), which means "those."
Some may still ask, "So what?" and that's okay. Why is it okay? Because I'm still a rock star.
ANSWER: Yes.
Is America now in a cultural revolution? Is Donald Trump a wannabe Chairman Mao? And are red hats just a substitute for "red scarves"? Those are just a few questions I will leave for others to answer.
Below is the Korean translation of the prologue for the book "Red Scarf Girl." And in the video below, the author of the book reads the prologue in English.
Link to the book Red Scarf Girl on Amazon
------------------------------
"1966년, 가장 행복한 아이"
나는 음력으로 새해 첫날인 설날에 태어났다. 행운과 아름답다는 뜻이 담긴 '지리' 라는 이름, 두 분은 내가 세상에서 가장 행복한 아이가 되길 소망했다. 그리고 나는 정말 그런 아이가 되었다.
나는 항상 주변 사람들로부터 사랑과 존중을 받았기 때문에 당연히 행복했다. 더불어 내겐 발전 가능성이 있고 반드시 성공할 거라는 그 분들의 기대는 내게 무한한 자신감과 자부심을 불어넣어 주었다. 나는 빛나는 미래를 한 번도 의심한 적이 없었다.
또한 나는 내가 배운 것을 한 번도 의심하지 않았다.
"하늘과 땅은 광대하다. 그러나 공산당의 친절함은 그보다 훨씬 광대하다."
"아버지와 어머니는 소중하다. 그러나 마오 주석은 그보다 더욱 소중하다."
운명적인 1966년이 다가오기 전까지, 나는 공산 소년소녀단임을 알리는 붉은 스카프를 목에 두르고, 또한 기쁨으로 터져 버릴 것만 같은 가슴을 안고 매일 무언가를 이루며 성장해 갔다.
ANSWER: One means 60 years old, and the other means Korean-age 60 years old, which is really 59 years old.
The Chinese character 歲 (세) is the same 세 used in the Sino-Korean word 연세 (年歲), which means "age" or "years of age." When Koreans say "60세," they are referring to the Korean style of counting "years of age," which means an extra year is added because when Koreans are born, they are already considered to be 1 year old. In the United States, we are 1 year old only after one year of being born. So, 60세 would mean "59 years old" in countries like the United States. When Koreans want to refer to 60 years old in the Western way, they say, "만 60세." The Chinese character 滿 (만) means "full," so 만 60세 literally means "a full 60 years old."
In Korea, the word 환갑 (還甲) refers to "one's 60th birthday anniversary." But does "60th birthday" means "60세" or "만 60세"? In other words, does 환갑 refer to Korean-age 60 or Western-age 60?
ANSWER:It refers to Western-age 60 ("만 60세), which again means that it is referring to "a full 60 years old." I will explain why below.
Why does 환갑 refer to "a full 60 years old" (만 60세) instead of a "Korean 60 years old" (60세)? Because 환갑 (還甲) literally means "returning to (還) 갑 (甲)," and 갑 (甲) is referring to the first of ten "heavenly stems" (천간 天干) in the "sexagenary cycle" (육십갑자 六十甲子), which counts years in 60-year cycles by combining, in sequence, one of ten "heavenly stems" (천간 天干) with one of twelve "earthly branches" (지지 地支). A "heavenly stem" is the first character in the 2-character combination, and an "earthly branch" is the second character. If you multiply 10 (heavenly stems) by 12 (earthly branches), you get 120, which means one could make 120 different 2-character combinations out of the 10 heavenly steams and 12 earthly branches, but since a "heavenly-stem" character can only appear as the first character in the 2-character combinations and an "earthly-branch" character as the second in the combinations, we have to divide the 120 by 2, which gives us only 60 possible unique character combinations for the different year names in a 60-year cycle.
The first year in a 60-year cycle is called 갑자 (甲子), which combines the "heavenly stem" 甲 (갑) with the "earthly branch" 子 (자), so instead of saying "환갑" (還甲), it would be more accurate to say "환갑자" (還甲子) since you "return to" (還) a 갑 (甲) year on year 11 (갑술 甲戌), year 21 (갑신 甲申), year 31 (갑오 甲午), year 41 (갑진 甲辰), and year 51 (갑인 甲寅) before returning to year 1 of a new 60-year cycle. However, you "return to" (환 還) a 갑자 (甲子) combination only on year 1 of a new 60-year cycle, and that means that 환갑 (還甲) is referring to a "full" (만 滿) 60-year cycle. And that means that each year in a 60-year cycle will have its own unique name.
Below is a chart showing the 10 "heavenly stems" (천간) above the 12 "earthly branches" (지지). The name of the first year of the 60-year cycle is a pairing up of the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) with the first "earthly branch" (子 자), so 甲子 (갑자); and the name of the second year is a pairing up of the second "heavenly stem" (乙 을) with the second "earthly branch" (丑 축), so 乙丑 (을축); and so-on through year 10, after which we run out of "heavenly stems" and must return to the beginning of the "heavenly stems" to continue the pairing, so the name of the 11th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) with the 11th "earthly branch" (戌 술) to form 甲戌 (갑술). And then continuing in sequence, the name of the 12th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the second "heavenly stem" (乙 을) with the 12th earthly stem (亥 해) to form 乙亥 (을해). After that, there are no more "earthly branches," so we must start repeating the "earthly branches" to continue naming the remaining years of the 60-year cycle. That means that the name of the 13th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the 3rd "heavenly stem" (丙 병) with the 1st "earthly branch" (子 자) to form 丙子 (병자), and this kind of sequential pairing continues until there is a name for all 60 years in a cycle, after which the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) and the first "earthly branch" (子 자) finally meet again to form 甲子 (갑자), the first year of a new 60-year cycle.
Heavenly Stems 십간
甲 갑
乙 을
丙 병
丁 정
戊 무
己 기
庚 경
辛 신
壬 임
癸 계
甲 갑
乙 을
Earthly Branches 십이지
子 자
rat
丑 축 ox
寅 인 tiger
卯 묘 rabbit
辰 진 dragon
巳 사 snake
午 오 horse
未 미 goat
申 신 monkey
酉 유 rooster
戌 술 dog
亥 해 pig
Year Names
1 甲子 갑자
2 乙丑 을축
3 丙寅 병인
4 丁卯 정묘
5 戊辰 무진
6 己巳 기사
7 庚午 경오
8 辛未 신미
9 壬申 임신
10 癸酉 계유
11 甲戌 갑술
12 乙亥 을해
By the way, each of the "earthly branches" are associated with an animal, so since the "earthly branch" 子 (자) is associated with a "rat," any year that ends with the character 子 is called "the year of the rat." If the name of a year ends with 丑 (축), which is associated with an "ox," then the year would be called "the year of the ox," and so on. And since 子 (자) will appear at the end of a year name 5 times in one 60-year cycle, there will be five "years of the rat" in one 60-year cycle, and there will be five years for each of the other animals, as well.
So, finally, someone celebrating 환갑 (還甲) would be "a full 60 years old" (만 60세), which means he or she would be 61 (61세) Korean age.
ANSWER: One means "100 years old," and the other means "99 years old."
In the video below, they are celebrating the upcoming birthday of Archbishop Emeritus Yoon Kong-hi (윤공희), whose Christian name is Victorinus Yoon Kong-hi (윤공희 빅토리노). The Korean description of the video says that they are celebrating the archbishop's "100th birthday" (백세 百歲), but the banner on the wall in the video reads: "윤공희 빅토리노 대주교 백수 白壽 감사미사 2022. 8. 27," so they are celebrating his 백수 (白壽), not his 백세 (百歲).
Since the Archbishop was born on November 8, 1924, he would have been only 97 years old when the video was made on August 27, 2022, and 98 years old on his birthday that year. But since Koreans traditionally consider themselves to be 1 year old at birth, the archbishop's Korean age would have been 99 on January 1, 2023 since, instead of on their birthdays, Koreans wait until the start of the new year to add that extra year. So, why would they be celebrating his 100th birthday when his Korean age would be only 99?
ANSWER: They are not celebrating his 100th birthday; they are celebrating his 99th birthday.
The Sino-Korean word 백세 (百歲) means "100 years old," and the Sino-Korean word 백수 (白壽) means "99 years old." Notice that the 백 in 백세 (百歲) is written using the Chinese character 百, which means "100," so since the character 歲 (세) means "years," 백세 (百歲) literally means "100 (百) years (歲)." But the 백 in 백수 (白壽) is written as 白, which means "white," so since the Chinese character 壽 (수) can mean "age," 백수 (白壽) literally means "white (白) age (壽)." But why does "white age" (白壽) mean 99? Because the only difference between writing the Chinese character for "100" (百) and the character for "white" (白) is the stroke "一" (일), which means "one." So, if you take "one" (一) from 100 (百), you get "99" (白).
The person who posted the video below seems to have mistakenly thought that both 백세 (百歲) and 백수 (白壽) mean "100 years old," but only 백세 百歲 means "100 years old; 백수 (白壽) means "99 years old."
This is an example of why studying Chinese characters can help people better understand Korean.
My 1998 edition of "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary" defines 벌쓰다 as "be punished; suffer punishment; [of a child] stand in the corner," and the verb 벌서다 is not even listed in the dictionary. So, according to my Dong-A dictionary, 벌쓰다 is a passive verb that means "to be punished," and 벌씌우다 is a transitive verb that means "to punish," including the punishment of having a child stand in a corner.
1998 "Dong-A's Prime" Dictionary
However, my 2014 edition of "Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary" defines 벌쓰다 simply as "to suffer punishment," without mentioning anything about [a child] standing in a corner. Instead, it lists the verb 벌서다 and defines it as the punishment "stand in the corner." In other words, my 2014 Essence dictionary separates the punishment of a child standing in a corner from other punishments. So, if a child or person is punished in any other way besides standing in a corner, the verb 벌쓰다 should be used instead of 벌서다.
2014 "Essence" Dictionary
So, either my Dong-A dictionary got it wrong in 1998 or else between 1998 and 2014, the verb 벌서다 became standardized as the verb that refers to the punishment of "[a child] standing in a corner."
Now, I want to know why Koreans say "wear/write" (쓰다) punishment and "stand" (서다) punishment. Could 벌쓰다 be a reduced form of "쓰는 벌을 받다," which could translate as "to receive a writing punishment"? And could 벌서다 be a reduced form of 서는 벌을 받다, which could translate as "to receive a standing punishment"? So, instead of saying, "벌로 쓰라" ("As punishment, write!") and "벌로 서라" ("As punishment, stand!"), did the teacher just say, "벌쓰라 and "벌서라"?
Not many adults are punished by having them stand is a corner, so maybe the verbs 벌쓰다 and 벌서다 were originally referring to punishments for school children. If a student talked in class, for example, and was told to write 100 times "I will not talk in class" as punishment, could that have been "a writing punishment" (쓰는 벌), and if a student was told to stand in the corner as punishment for something, could that have been "a standing punishment" (서는 벌)? I do not know it that was the origins of the verbs 벌쓰다 and 벌서다; I am just thinking out loud now.
