What is the origin of the pure Korean word "우리" (we)?

ANSWER: Probably 울, which means "the family" or "the clan"

Koreans seem to be unsure of the origin of "우리" (we), but I think it comes from the pure Korea word "울." My dictionary defines "울" as "relatives," "family," "kinsfolk," or "clan," which has always been the core component of Korean society. So, you only have to add the subject marker "이" to "울" to get "울이," which is naturally pronounced /우리/.

When Koreans first started saying "우리," I think they were using it to mean "the family" or "the clan." Therefore, the phrase "우리 친구" would have been the pronunciation of "울의 친구," which would have meant "a friend of the family" or "a friend of the clan." And "우리 남편" would have meant "the husband of the family," and, of course, "우리 아내" or "우리 마누라" would have meant "the wife of the family."

Is the following video funny?

ANSWER: Yes!

What is the Korean for "to throw one's hat into the ring"?

ANSWER: 출사표를 던지다

When one "throws one's hat into the ring," it means the person wants to challenge someone in a contest or something. Today the expression is often used in politics to mean a political candidate wants to challenge the current officeholder, but originally it was used to challenge someone to a boxing match. In other words, someone outside a boxing ring could throw his hat into the ring to challenge the champion there.

In the Korean expression 출사표를 던지다, the verb "던지다" means "to throw," but 출사표 (出師表) does not mean "hat."

The phrase 출사 (出師) means "to dispatch troops." The Chinese character 出 (출) means "to send out" or "to dispatch," and 師 (사) means "troops," though today 師 is more commonly used to mean "teacher" or "master" (스승).  The 표(表) in the expression means "memorial" (장표 章表), which were written documents the Chinese used to communicate with their emperors. So, 출사표 (出師表) literally means "a memorial to dispatch troops."

One of the problems with using 출사표를 던지다 to mean "throw one's hat in their ring" is that the Chinese would have never "thrown" their memorials at their emperors, at least none who wanted to live.

By the way, there is a really cool Korean song called "출사표" that starts at about the 2:50 mark in the following first video. The first video includes the Korean lyrics with English translations. The second video is a live performance, which is also cool.

The song seems to suggest that a young person has decided to finally leave home to take on the challenges of the world. In other words, the person has decided to throw his or her hat into the ring.

How do you say "ants in [your] pants" in Korean?

ANSWER: 좀이 쑤시다

When a person cannot sit still because of some anxiety, impatience, or excess energy, we might ask the person in English, "Do you have ants in your pants?" Well, the Korean equivalent seems to be "(너를) 좀이 쑤시니?" which literally translates as either "Are bugs prickling you?"

The transitive verb 쑤시다 can translate as "to tingle" or "to prickle," and the pure Korean word 좀 can be used as a general term for "bug" (곤충), or as a shortened form of 좀벌레, which is an insect known in English as "a silverfish."

Would you sit still if the following bug was crawling around on your body?

What's the Korean word for "pee shivers"?

ANSWER: 진저리

In an article, HERE, which NBC News jokingly refers to as "yellow journalism,"  the phrase "pee shivers" is described as follows:

When grown men and little boys urinate, occasionally our entire body is abruptly racked with a mysterious, internal blast of cold that makes us visibly shudder from the shoulders down. It typically occurs near the end of the task, lasting roughly one frigid second.

The phrase 진저리 나다 can be used to refer not only to the uncontrollable shivers boys and men sometimes get after urinating but also to the shivers people sometimes get when they are afraid.

By the way, what are 1800 Korean expressions every Korean fifth grader should know?

Click on THIS LINK and find out. Do not be afraid. It is just a link to a new and interesting Korean children's book entitled "초등 국어 표현력 사전," which I will creatively translate as "Dictionary of Expressions Every Korean Elementary School Student Should Know." The linked page shows you an extensive free preview of the 392-page book.

What does 맞팔 mean?

ANSWER: follow each other

In the video below, the young man mentions 맞팔 when talking about replying to posts on Instagram and Twitter, two social media platforms that I do not use. Anyway, he says the 팔 part of 맞팔 is an abbreviation of 팔로우, which is just the Korean pronunciation of the English word follow. Since the Korean language does not have an "F" sound, Koreans often use syllables starting with the letter ㅍ to approximate it.

The 맞 part of 맞팔 is a Korean prefix that can mean each other, so if a Korean friend says, 트위터에서 맞팔하자, he or she is saying, "Let's follow each other on Twitter."

The guy also mentions 잘 보고 가요, which he says is a "common stock phrase" that Koreans use on Twitter and Instagram to mean "Nice post."  However, since there is no past tense in the expression, it literally means, "I will enjoy looking [at it] and leave," which seems a strange way to say, "Nice post." Why not just write, "잘 봤어요," which means "I enjoyed looking at it"? Because the 가요 part of the expression means the commenter is just passing through and will not be staying around to engage in dialog and, therefore, does not expect a reply.

Also, the guy says that someone who writes 잘 보고 가요 might not always be a real person, and suggests that the comment could just be a bot trying to get you to follow a link to a particular Web site.

What does the word 행리 (行李) mean?

ANSWER: baggage or luggage

行 (행) means “walk” or “travel,” and 李 (리) means “plum,” so the Korean word 행리 (行李) literally means “walking plums” or “travelling plums,” which for some reason translates as “baggage” or “luggage.”

This suggests that Koreans and Chinese used to travel pretty light, carrying mainly their walking fruits.

I am unsure of the origin of the word 행리, but I can imagine a mother sending her son off on a long trip with a bundle of plums to eat along the way. 

I do not know if Koreans still use the word 행리 (行李), but the Chinese in Taiwan apparently do use it.

Is this guy a good teacher?

ANSWER: I think he's a great teacher.

But I think he mistakenly explained 맞히다, which really means ""to  guess or do something correctly," not "to make something correct." For example, the sentence "정답을 맞혀봐요," means "Try to guess the correct answer," not "Try to make the correct answer."

In his spoken explanation he does say, "to guess something correctly," but the writing on the screen is "to make something correct," which is wrong.

So, the verb 맞히다 means "to guess or do something correctly," including "hitting a target," and the verb 맞추다 means "to match something" or "to fit something," which often requires some adjustment.

Is the man in the linked video below saying Sentence A or Sentence B?

A: 네 속에 내가 있고 내 속에 네가 있다.
"I'm inside you, you're inside me."

B: 내 속에 네가 있고, 네 속에 내가 있다.
"You're inside me, I'm inside you."

Even if you can distinguish between 내 and 네 in the above sentence, it still seems to be a losing battle in Korea, which is why I have given up and just pronounce 네 as /니/.

Or why not say 너이 instead of 네, which would mean 네가 would be pronounced as 너이가? It would eliminate the need to have dog-like hearing to distinguish between 내가 and 네가.

From what I have read, Korean used to have only one subject marker--"이"--but sometime in the 17th century, Koreans also started using "가. So, before the use of 가, nouns such as 말 (horse) and 소 (cow) would have been made into subject nouns by adding the subject marker 이 to both of them. So, instead of saying 말이 and 소가, they would have said 말이 and 소이. Likewise, if they added the subject marker 이 to the pronouns 나 and 너, that would have resulted in 나이 and 너이.

So, when 가 was introduced, instead of saying 나가 and 너가, Koreans may have just added 가 to 나이 and 너이, resulting in 나이가 and 너이가, which became 내가 and 네가? From what I have read, people in some regions of Korea still use 이가 as a subject marker. For example, supposedly some people in North Gyeongsang Province still say 오늘이가 for "today" instead of just 오늘이.

Anyway, would it really be so bad to say 너이가 instead of 네가? When you write it, of course, you would still write 네가.

https://twitter.com/adonisohn/status/898202316393725955

Is the Korean word for "uterus" a gender-biased word?

ANSWER: Some Koreans think it is.

Korean Dictionaries and Gender-Biased Words

Some Koreans want gender-biased words removed from Korean dictionaries. For example, the Korean word for “uterus” is 자궁(子宮), which literally means either “son’s palace” or “child’s palace,” but some Koreans think that is a gender-biased word and want to see it changed to 포궁 (胞宮), which literally means “cell’s palace.” When referring to a “baby stroller,” Koreans usually say 유모차(乳母車), which literally means “wet nurse car” or “nanny car,” but some Koreans think that is also a gender-biased word and, therefore, prefer the word 유아차(乳兒車), which literally means “baby car.”

Here are more words considered gender-biased words by some Koreans:

• From 처녀작 (maiden work) to 첫작품 (first work)
• From 미혼 (unable to marry) to 비혼 (unmarried)
• From 여직원 (female employee) to just 직원 (employee)
• From 여의사 (female doctor) to just 의사 (doctor)
• From 여교수 (female professor) to just 교수 (professor)
• From 저출산 (low delivery [rate]) to 저출생 (low birth [rate])
• From 여자고등학교 (girls high school) to just 고등학교 (high school)

What does 육하원칙 (六何原則) mean?

ANSWER: The Principle of the Six Ha's

In the video below, a woman gives really good advice, in Korean, on writing book reviews (독서록). By the way, I love her videos.

Anyway, during the video she mentions 육하원칙 (六何原則), which literally translates as "Principle of the Six 'Ha's (하's).'" In the United States, we would refer to "The Six 하's (六何)" as "The Six W's," which refers to "who," "what," "when," "where," "why," and "how." And "The Six W's" is a checklist that reporters and others commonly use when gathering information to tell a story.

So, why do Koreans refer to "The Six W's" as "The Six 하's"? Because in Classical Chinese and Literally Korean (한문), the Chinese character 何 (하) was an interrogative word that could be used to mean any of "the six W's," depending on the words surrounding it.

The Six Ha's (육하 六何)

• 하인 (何人) - Who
• 하사 (何事) - What
• 하시 (何時) - When
• 하처 (何處) - Where
• 하고 (何故) - Why
• 여하 (如何) - How

When did 가까이 become a noun?

ANSWER: I'm guessing sometime between 1992 and 2017.

In my 1992 edition of "Donga's New Korean-Korean Dictionary" (동아 새國語辭典), 가까이 is listed only as an adverb. But recently, while I was looking at a preview of Nam Yeong-shin's 2017 book 보리 국어 바로쓰기 사전, I noticed that he listed it as both an adverb and a noun.

Here are the two example sentences Mr. Nam gave for the use of 가까이 as a noun:

문 가까이에 물건을 두지마라.
"Don't put things close to the door."

개가 아이 가까이에 오지 않도록 해라.
"Don't let the dog get close to the child."

The Korean particle 에 attaches to nouns and pronouns and means "to," "in," "on," or "at," so since the example sentences show 에 attached to 가까이, that means 가까이 is being used in the sentences as a noun. It also suggests that the use of 가까이 as a noun was accepted in Korean society sometime between the publication of my 1992 dictionary and that of Mr. Nam's 2017 book.

Anyway, I am curious to know if Koreans think it sounds better to use 가까이 as an adverb or as a noun. In other words, which of the following sentences sound better? The As or the Bs?

A: 문에 가까이 물건을 두지마라.
B: 문 가까이에 물건을 두지마라.

A: 개가 아이한테 가까이 오지 않도록 해라.
B: 개가 아이 가까이에 오지 않도록 해라.

The following is a page from Nam Yeong-sin's (남영신) 2017 book 보리 국어 바로쓰기 사전, where he listed 가까이 as both and adverb and a noun.

What does 안녕하세요 mean?

ANSWER: Are you feeling well?

I am from Texas, where we frequently say "hello" to strangers as we pass them on a sidewalk. In Texas, strangers even raise a hand in greeting as they pass each other in cars or trucks on narrow country roads. So, I was a pretty surprised when I first went to Korea back in the late 70's and discovered that Koreans did not greet strangers on the street, even if one of them was staring at the other as they passed.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, foreigners were a much rarer sight in Korea than they are today, so Koreans would almost always stare at me when I would walk down a Korean sidewalk, even a sideway in Seoul. I remember the first time I said "안영하세요" to a Korean stranger on the street. He was a middle-aged man, who was staring a hole in me as he walked toward me on a lonely sidewalk. Since we had made eye contact, I felt obliged to say "안녕하세요" when he was close enough to hear it, but instead of returning the greeting or answering, he just looked a me as if I had asked if his wife were good bed. After a few more similar experiences, I learned not to greet strange Koreans on the street. By the way, even non-military foreigners back then would often ignore my greetings, as if they were New Yorkers or as if they had learned the Korean custom of not greeting strangers on the street.

Today, I read an article entitled "안녕" in Nam Yeong-sin's "Usage Handbook of the Korean Language" ("난영신의 한국어용법핸드북"). The first sentence in the article was as follows:

요즘 한국어를 배우는 외국인이 가장 먼저 익히는 말이 '안녕하세요.' ('하세요'의 높이가 거의 같도록 소리내.)라고 한다.

"These days, it is said that "안녕하세요" (saying '하세요' with almost the same pitch) is the very first expression foreigners studying Korean learn."

The greeting "안녕하세요" is supposed to be a question meaning, "Are you well?" but by saying that foreigners say the "하세요" part of it with almost the same pitch, Mr. Nam is suggesting that foreigners are not using the greeting as a question but rather as a simple "hello." He also suggests that even Koreans are forgetting the true meaning of the greeting. As an example, he gives the following anecdote:

두메 산촌에 의료 봉사를 하러 간 의대생이 거동이 심히 불편해 누워 있는 80대의 할아버지를 찾아가서 "안녕하세요, 할아버지?"라고 인사를 했더니 이 할아버지가 "아니, 난 안녕하지 못해요, 젊은이."라고 하더란다.

In a remote mountain village, a college medical student, who had gone there to do charity medical work, goes up to an old man in his 80s who was lying down because it was very uncomfortable for him to move and asked, "Are you feeling well, Grandfather?" The old man answered, "No, I'm unable to feel well, young man." 

The old man's response was probably his way of saying, "Does it look like I'm feeling well? The point Mr. Nam was trying to make with that anecdote was that even some Koreans are forgetting the original meaning of "안녕하세요?" Mr. Nam did not mention it, but I think a more sincere and appropriate greeting to the sick old man would have been something similar to the following: "할아버지, 어디 아프세요?" which translates as "Grandfather, where does it hurt?"

I have not lived in Korea for about ten years, but I think today if a foreigner were to say "안녕하세요" to a Korean on a sidewalk, the Korean would probably return the greeting, knowing that the foreigner was not being nosey by asking about his or her health, but was just being friendly by saying "Hello."

Is it better to hear the Korean expression before the English?

ANSWER: For Korean-language learners, I think it is better to hear the Korean first.

The following video says the Korean expression first and then the English. This allows the Korean-language learner to hear the Korean and consider its meaning before hearing the English translation. Then, after hearing the English translation, there is enough pause to allow the Korean-language learner to repeat the Korean expression.

For Korean-language learners, hearing the Korean first helps them build their listening comprehension skills. If they were to hear the English first, it would be similar to hearing the answer before hearing the question. An English-first version would be better for testing rather than teaching. For English-language learners, the process would be the reverse.

Therefore, even though the following video seems to have been created to teach English to English-language learners, it seems better suited for teaching Korean to Korean-language learners, especially since the English expressions are often awkward or wrong.

What is the Korean word for "cheese"?

Well, these days Koreans usually say 치즈, which is just a transliteration of the English word "cheese," but the Sino-Korean word for "cheese" is 건락 (乾酪), which literally means "dried (乾) milk (酪)." The "락 (酪) in 건락 is the same character used in 낙농 (酪農), which means "dairy (酪) farming (農)." When 락 comes at the beginning of a word, the ㄹ changes to ㄴ.

Why am I writing about this? Because I found a mistake in my 1995 edition of "Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary." The mistake is as follows:

The word 타락 has two meanings in my dictionary. One meaning is "to fall" or "to go astray," and the other is "cow's milk." The Chinese characters for the "to fall" 타락 are 墮落, and the Chinese characters for the "cow's milk" 타락 are 駝酪, which literally means "camel's (駝) milk (酪)," but my dictionary mistakenly uses the "to fall" Chinese characters for both "to fall" and "cow's milk," an unforgiveable mistake.

I wonder if I can get a refund on my nearly 24-year-old dictionary. It would be great if I could because it is falling apart.

What are you doing when you "cross tails"?

ANSWER: having sex

The Korean word for copulation is 교미 (交尾), which literally means "to cross (交) tails (尾)," though it could also translate as "to exchange (交) tails (尾)."

For some strange reason, I picture one dog asking another dog, "Shall we cross tails?" (교미할까요?)

Are the videos teaching English or Korean?

ANSWER: I guess it depends on if you are studying Korean or English.

These videos are good for those who like to study with their eyes closed.

How long does it take to memorize 1,948 Chinese characters?

ANSWER: It depends.

If you memorized 100 characters a day, you could memorize 1,948 characters in less than three weeks, but if you are in a hurry, you could try learning them with the YouTube video below, which teaches them in less than 7 hours. If you could do that, it would be Wow-worthy.

There may be some people who are unable to memorize all 1,948 characters in less than 7 hours, so they may have to watch the video more than once, but even if you are able to learn all 1,948 characters in less than 7 hours, you would still have to regularly review them so that you do not forget them. Therefore, if you like to eat your breakfast, lunch, or dinner in front of your computer, or if you are tired of watching animal videos on YouTube, I would suggest watching the following video instead during those times. You may be surprised at how much you can learn with just frequent exposure.

Remember:

A video can be paused, and it beats turning pages, so for you slow learners, you might study just 10 characters a day, and restart the video each day to first review the characters you have already learned before learning your next ten characters. That would mean you could learn 100 characters in 10 days, or all 1,948 characters in 195 days, which I guess would be all right.

What does 과년 (瓜年) mean?

ANSWER: marriageable age for a girl (14 ~15); the year a girl is sexually mature (nubile)

In old Korea, a girl was apparently considered sexually mature and ready for marriage when she started menstruating, but the word 과년(瓜年) literally means "the cucumber (瓜) year (년)" or "year of the cucumber." So I wonder why they called it the "year of the cucumber" instead of "the year of the tomato"? Was it because Korea was a male-dominated society? 😉

瓜 (과) was also used as a general term for "melons," so maybe 과년 was meant to mean "the melon year" or "the fruitful year," suggesting that girls of that age were finally able to bear fruit.

What does 七去之惡 (칠거지악) mean?

ANSWER: the seven grounds for divorcing a wife

七去之惡 (칠거지악) literally means "the seven (七) abandonment evils (去之惡)." These "seven evils" were grounds for divorcing a wife in old China and Korea.

1. Disobeying in-laws
2. Inability to produce a son
3. Adultery
4. Jealousy
5. Disease
6. Talking too much
7. Stealing