Archive for Hallyu Word of the Day

Hallyu Word of the Day #3

June 14, 2008 at 9:49 am · Filed under Hallyu Word of the Day ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bob the Builder – he’s Bob Ahjussi (밥 아저씨) in Korea!

Today’s word – 아저씨 pronounced Ah-jeo-sshi – can be found in the script of almost every K-drama there is, was and will be (with the exception of sageuks – historical dramas, I guess).

Often translated as Mister or sir, 아저씨 refers to an older gentleman, but colloquially, an ahjusshi is an middle-aged man, and more often than not has a terrible sense of style (if any at all). Case in point – plastic slippers worn with socks…

The female counterpart to ahjusshi is 아줌마 (ah-ju-mma), which will be tomorrow’s word of the day!

Read more about ahjussi at Wikipedia.

While on the topic of 아저씨, I’ve been watching a movie on youtube (yes, that’s actually possible – I didn’t know one could). It’s called 키다리 아저씨 – or ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’ internationally. Starring Ha Ji-Won, Yeon Jeong Hun, Shin Yi, Jeong Jun Ha, Hyun Bin and Park Eun Hye, the film is a romantic comedy which gained much popularity in Korea and the world over.

From callalilly @youtube :

In her new movie Daddy-Long-Legs that borrowed its name from the famous novel by Jean Webster, famous Korean star Ha Ji-won portrays the naïve but good-hearted high school girl Cha Young-mi. Left to her own devices after the tragic loss of her parents, Young-mi is determined to overcome whatever hardships the future may bring in order to complete her education. Through the help of an invisible benefactor who pays for her tuition fees and other necessary expenses, Young-mi is able to finish her studies and is offered her dream job as program writer for a radio station. It is there that she meets and falls in love with her colleague Kim Joon-hoo (Yeon Jeong-hoon). After Young-mi discovers a desperate message left behind by the former owner of her computer she decides to do something to help this heartbroken person.

Watch the trailer here.

If you’re interested in watching the whole movie, watch it here.

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Hallyu Word of the Day #2

June 13, 2008 at 8:25 am · Filed under Hallyu Word of the Day ·Tagged , , , , ,

Street Food in Seoul is very popular – a result of the ppalli, ppalli mindset

This is a follow up to Hallyu Word of the Day #1 wherein I had mentioned that 빨리 is one of the first words Korean learners come to know. Maybe it is the incessant ‘빨리,빨리!’ heard around – in restaurants particularly, or the famed Korean need for haste – but 빨리 is definitely registered quickly in the non-Korean’s dictionary.

So, what exactly am I talking about? 빨리 means quickly, literally – and is used as a standalone phrase (similar to 사랑해 in that respect) to mean ‘Hurry Up!’. Pronounced as Ppa-lli (where the L sound is between an L and an R really), this is often repeated – 빨리, 빨리! has a better effect than the solitary 빨리, I am told…

Korean haste is famed – and critiqued much too – and it’s so-called ‘ppalli, ppalli’ culture draws a lot of reactions from bloggers all over the world. In fact, I found a lot of interesting reads based on the ‘ppalli, ppalli’ mindset of Korea.

Some I enjoyed reading are:

  • South Koreans call it ppalli ppalli (“hurry hurry”) – doing everything quickly, from leaving planes to eating, walking and driving…. “Ppalli ppalli was the main driving engine behind the nation’s rapid industrialization,” said Yoo Suk-choon, a sociologist at Seoul’s Yonsei University. South Korea was reduced to ashes during the 1950-53 Korean War, but has built itself into the world’s 11th-largest economy.
    However, government officials and social critics blame ppalli ppalli for many ills: traffic jams, corruption, slipshod construction and the reckless expansion by corporations on borrowed money, which proved a disaster during Asia’s 1997-98 financial crisis. Today, after decades of rushing, there are calls for a more leisurely lifestyle.

From Timesizing News.

Ppalli, ppalli is appalling.

Disclaimer : The views represented in the above blogs may not neccesarily reflect the views of the author of this blog.

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Hallyu Word of the Day #1

June 12, 2008 at 6:08 pm · Filed under Hallyu Word of the Day ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since I’m learning Korean myself, I thought it would be interesting to do a Korean word of the day!

The focus, is Hallyu of course, and this so-called ‘Korean wave’ tends to throw specific words at its audience, through its music, dramas, etc.

So, I want to inaugurate, so to speak with a word that practically all Korean learners (and non-learners alike) tends to find themselves getting to know first (although by a few accounts this is 빨리, which we will be coming to later) : 사랑해 (sa – rang – hae), which means I love you (actually, it’s a phrase and a word all in one).

The suffix -요 can be added for politeness to make 사랑해요 (sa-rang-hae-yo).

사랑해, of course being a much-used phrase in K-pop, and other Korean music, not to mention Korean dramas (and drama doesn’t refer to theatre in Korea, it refers to what we call soap operas)

A related word 사랑, means love. If you listen to a lot of Korean music, then you’ll know what I’m talking about – about 50% of the songs in my iTunes have 사랑해/사랑/ 사랑한다 and other variations in their title/lyrics, all derived from the verb 사랑하다 – to love.

A few popular Korean songs with 사랑해 (links lead to MVs in youtube) :

  • Alex & JiSun (duet) – 사랑해 ….a very interesting music video storyline, followed in two parts.
  • Fly To the Sky – 사랑해 ….from their 7th album No limitations
  • Mighty Mouth Feat. Yoon Eun Hye (of Coffee Prince fame) – 사랑해…. this is fairly new
  • Namolla Family Feat. Taein and Kim Kyung Rok of VOS – 사랑해요… Namolla family is a group of comedians, I think, but they’re songs are fairly good – catchy!

You can watch the MV for Alex (Clazziquai) and JiSun (ex-Loveholic)’s duets here:

Part One : Very Hurtful Words (너무 아픈 이말).

Part Two : I Love You (사랑해).

Highly recommended! Really, it’s a MUST WATCH! Genre : fantasy – a guy goes fishing and he reels in something very unusual… And remember to look out for Alex’s and JiSun’s voices – very beautiful. And, remember it’s a continuous storyline, so watch part one then two, and no – it’s not horror/scary – I don’t really like that genre that much…

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