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: Well, I use it when I get angry at a string or rope.
It may not make much sense to Koreans, but I often say it when I get frustrated trying to untie a difficult knot: "이 새끼야!" By the way, both 새끼 and 새끼줄 mean "a straw rope."
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.
There was a fairly popular book published in Korea in 2002 entitled "아는 것으로부터의 자유." I have not read the book, but the title of the book was used as an example in a Lee O-doek (이오덕) book I have that is entitled "우리글 바로쓰기," which is a book on how not to write Korean.
Mr. Lee suggested that a more traditional way of writing the Korean title would be something like "아는 것에서 [자유롭기]," and I agree. In other words, why write 으로부터의 when you can just write 에서? Does stringing a bunch of Korean prepositions together (으로 + 부터 + 의) make the title sound more sophisticated? I don't think so, but that string of prepositions seems to be a popular thing to do in Korea these days, at least back when Mr. Lee wrote his book.
By the way, I wonder how AI is changing the way Koreans write. Hopefully, AI will get rid of silly things like "으로부터의".
Below, I have posted a screenshot of the "Yes24" page where the 2002 book is advertised and a couple of videos talking about Mr. 이오덕:
아는 것으로부터의 자유 | 지두 크리슈나무르티 | 물병자리 - 예스24
I started learning Korean in 1976 and remember learning sometime back then that 빌다 was used to mean "to borrow," and 빌리다 was used to mean "to lend," but apparently that is no longer the case. Today, 빌리다 is used to mean both "to borrow" and "to lean," so now 돈을 빌리다 can mean either "to lean money" or "to borrow money." Therefore, to avoid confusion, it would probably be better to use 돈을 빌리다 to mean "to borrow money" and 돈을 빌려주다 to mean "to lend money." In fact, the tiny little Underwood/Tuttle English-Korean dictionary I bought back in 1976 says that "to borrow" is 빌리다 and "to lend" is 빌려주다.
1975 Underwood/Tuttle English-Korean Dictionary
1975 Underwood/Tuttle English-Korean Dictionary
But apparently, not everyone got the memo because my 1998 "Donga Prime Korean-English Dictionary lists 빌다 as meaning "to borrow" and 빌리다 as meaning "to lend," without mentioning anything about 빌리다 meaning "to borrow."
1998 Donga's Prime Korean-English Dictionary
1998 Donga's Prime Korean-English Dictionary
But in my 2014 "Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary," they finally got it right by getting rid of the 빌다 that means "to borrow" and including the meaning "to borrow" under the word 빌리다. I hope they stop changing things on me.
ANSWER: Yes. One thing that has changed is that back in 1977, foreigners could impress Koreans by speaking just a few simply Korean phrases. Though I left Korea more than 15 years ago, I suspect that it would take much more than just a few simple phrases to impress Koreans today with one's Korean language skills, especially since Koreans today speak English way better than they did in 1977.
ANSWER: It depends. If you are talking about an egg, it is the white inner part of the egg, but if you are talking about an eye, it is the white part of the eye. The 흰 part of the word means "white," but I am not exactly sure what the 자위 part of the word means except that it seems to mean either "color" or "part" when referring to eggs or eyes. In North Korea, 자위 is also used to refer to the color of fruit when it starts to ripen, so maybe at one time in the past 자위 meant "color" since it requires a color adjective in front of it for it to have any real meaning today.
In Korea, the white part of an egg is called 흰자위, and the yellow part, or yolk, is called 노른자위. Both 노랗다 and 노르다 mean "yellow," but when talking about the yolk of an egg, you should say 노른자위, not 노란자위.
When you are talking about the white part of an eye (눈), you should probably say 눈의 흰자위 so that people won't think you are talking about the white part of an egg. Likewise, you could say 달걀의 흰자위 to clarify that you are talking about an egg (달걀), not an eye (눈).
Finally, what does 검은자위 mean? The word 검다 means either "black" or "dark," but when Koreans say 검은자위, they are referring to the colored "iris" of the eye, not to the black "pupil" of the eye. So, the better literal translation of 검은자위 would be "the dark part of the eye" rather than "the black part of the eye," especially since Korean eyes tend to be dark brown, making it harder to distinguish the colored "iris" of the eye from the black "pupil." For the black pupil of the eye, Koreans use the word 눈동자. By the way, 가맣다 or 까맣다 also means either "black" or "dark," but when talking about the colored iris of the eye, you should say 검은자위, not 까만자위.
By the way, instead of 흰자위, 노른자위, and 검은자위, some Koreans say 흰자, 노른자, and 검은자.
ANSWER: One means "surgery (수술 手術) to repair the shape [of something]," and the other means "surgery (수술 手術) to make or form the shape [of something]." The word 정형 (整形) can literally translate as "to repair (整) a shape (形)," and 성형 (成形) can literally translate as "to make or form (成) a shape (形)."
If you break your nose, the surgery you need to repair it is 정형수술, but if you want to change the shape of your nose, the surgery you need to reshape it is 성형수술, though the guy in the video below is recommending that you get a broken nose repaired with 성형수술. The definitions can be a little confusing, but you just need to remember that the Korean phrase for "cosmetic surgery" is 미용성형외과 (美容成形外科), NOT 미용정형외과, despite the example in the definition for 정형 below, which is probably one reason many people get the two confused. The word 외과 also means "surgery."
By the way, does picking your nose make your nostrils bigger?
ANSWER: No. You would have to pick your nose long and hard for that to happen.
ANSWER: Both words are used by married women in Korea to refer to or to address the younger brothers of their husbands. The difference between the two is that if the younger brother of the husband is unmarried, the wife of the older brother addresses the younger brother as 도련님, but if he is married, then she addresses him as 서방님. In the past, Korean women also addressed their husbands as 서방님 and may still do so in a joking way.
Titles and forms of address are very important in Korea, but it seems that Koreans are starting to get a little uncomfortable with some of them, especially Korean women, who wonder why Korean men are shown more respect when they are addressed than Korean women.
In Korea, 처 (妻) means "wife," and 부 (夫) means "husband," so Korean women are starting to wonder why they have to address their husbands' younger brothers as 도련님 and 서방님 while the husbands get to address the younger brothers of their wives as simply 처남 (妻男), which can refer to either a married younger brother or an unmarried younger brother. And the honorific 님 does not have to be attached to 처남.
So, more and more Korean women are asking, "Why can't I just address my husband's younger brother as 부남 (夫男), whether he is married or not, since my husband gets to address my younger brother as 처남 (妻男)?" Personally, I think that is a good question.
ANSWER: After he dies. Until then, you should refer to him as 아버지, and use 아버님 to refer to other people's fathers. You should, of course, use 어머니 and 어머님 in the same way.
"우리 아버님 살아계셨을 때, . . ." "When my father was alive, . . ."
ANSWER:순록 (馴鹿), which literally means "tamed (馴) deer (鹿)" and is pronounced /술록/, according to Korean pronunciation rules.
By the way, the Sino-Korean word for "to tame" or "to domesticate" is 순육(馴育)하다. Notice that it also uses the Chinese character 馴 (순), which again means "tame."
ANSWER: One means "unavoidable" or "inevitable," and the other means "have nothing to do."
할일없다, without a space, is an adjective that means "unavoidable," and 할일 없다, with a space, is a noun + adjective that means "have nothing to do." The 할일 is the noun, and the 없다 is the adjective. Since 할일 is a noun, you can use a subject marker and say 할일이 없다 instead of just 할일 없다.
However, the 할일없다, without a space, usually appears in the dictionary 하릴없다, which represents how it is pronounced. When it is pronounced, the ㄹ in 할 moves over to 일, resulting in /하릴/. Some may ask, "But wouldn't the 할일 없다, with a space, be pronounced the same as the 할일없다, without a space? The answer is, "No."
If you want to say, "It is unavoidable," you say, /하릴없따/, but if you want to say, "I have nothing to do," you say, /할릴없따/. In other words, the difference in pronunciation is /하릴/ versus /할릴/. The reason the second one is pronounced as /할릴/ instead of /하릴/ is because a ㄴ was added to it to get 할닐, which then changes to /할릴/ because a ㄴ sound preceded by a ㄹ sound changes to a ㄹ sound.
So, if you want to say, 오늘 별로 할일 없어요 (Today, there is not much to do), be sure to pronounce the 할일 as /할릴/.
