#23. 넘사벽 -- Try as you might

Superstitious people are everywhere. In North America, 13 is considered unlucky (I'm not really sure why; maybe because there were 13 people at the table during the last supper) and you sometimes see the 13th floor missing entirely from high-rise buildings.

In Korea, the number to avoid (along with 13, because why not) is four. This is because the number four, pronounced "사" in Korean, sounds exactly like the Chinese character 死 meaning death (for example, "사형" means the capital punishment, "사신" means the messenger of death, "사약" means the poisonous drink that people were required to drink in the olden days when they were given the death penalty). So in many Korean buildings, both the fourth and the thirteenth floors are missing.

Anyway, there's a Korean internet slang word "넘사벽." It is often used in the context such as this: Say that you figure skate as a hobby, and a friend compliments you on your skating skills, going as far as saying things like how you skate like the famous Yuna Kim (김연아.) Then you are embarrassed because you're not actually that good, and you say something like, "Oh, I will never even come close to catching up to Yuna Kim." In Korean, you could say:

김연아는 넘사벽이야.

If you were chatting on the internet, you might have typed instead:

 김연아 >>>>>>>넘사벽>>>>>> 나 (Yuna Kim >>>> 넘사벽 >>>>> me.)

When I first heard the word in a sentence, it was clear that the word "넘사벽" was clearly a shortened form, because I didn't see how to break up "넘사벽" into different words. Before reading on, try to guess what this word means -- it wasn't completely obvious to me, even as a native speaker (and the exact meaning of the catchiest internet slang can usually be interpreted!)
 

The famous skater Yuna Kim, whom every Korean can recognize.

From the context, it seemed obvious that the word "넘사벽" should mean "incomparable," or "way beyond my abilities." But in the word "넘사벽," I only recognized one word inside it, namely "벽" or "wall." Combined with the context, it felt like the word should come from the well-known phrase "넘을수 없는 벽" or "insurmountable wall."

That took care of the letters "넘" and "벽," but where did the letter "사" come from? At this point, I was left completely on my own to take a stab in the dark. My guess was that the letter "사" came from "death," combining to suggest that the word "넘사벽" means "a wall that you can't overcome, even if you died trying." Satisfied with this meaning, I happily went about my way around the Korean internet world (and I suppose you could use this word with anyone, since it's not offensive and the meaning is guessable.)

A few years later, though, I learned that the original intended meaning of "넘사벽" was not a wall that you cannot overcome even in death, but actually a shortened form of "넘을수 없는 사차원의 벽," or "an insurmountable four-dimensional wall."

Oh well. I was a little bit off, but I wasn't the only one, and many Koreans guessed that the letter "사" came from "death" rather than "four." Plus, the meaning still wasn't lost. Such is the way of the Korean internet slang.

Apparently, this word presented more of a challenge to some than the others, though. Some people thought that this word meant "넘을수 없는 사랑의 벽," or "an insurmountable wall of love," but that really shouldn't have made sense from the context (although it would be pretty hilarious in the right context!) In any case, I thought you might enjoy seeing how a native Korean speaker goes about figuring out the new slang word that they encounter on the internet (and get it wrong!)