Friday, May 5, 2017

#4. 개 -- Do you know the prefix that emphasizes everything? (you do!)

In English slang, if you're having a piece of cake and it's really good, there's an easy way to express your sentiments. Just add the f-word in front of the adjective. Instead of saying "This cake is amazing!" you say "This cake is f-ing amazing!"

Of course, if a teenager said this in front of his parents, this might lead to a huge gasp from the parents, and the teenager might be grounded.

Korean also has a very similar word, although it's slightly milder than the f-word. If a teenager uses what I'm about to tell you in front of his parents, the parents would probably chuckle a little bit, and maybe he'll get a lecture on the beauty of using proper Korean. If he has a very open-minded set of parents, he might even get away with it entirely, although this usage should be avoided in polite company, with a few exceptions!

Instead of using the f-word, just try adding "개-" to all the adjectives.

Yes, it's the word that means "dog." This multi-purpose prefix is technically featured in the Korean dictionaries, and it's supposed to mean "untamed," "uncivilized," or in some cases "meaningless," which was probably how the dogs were, way back when. It was supposed to be a prefix to only certain words: for example, "죽음" (death) becomes "개죽음" which means uncivilized, undignified death (for example, a death in a battlefield might get this description); "꿈" (dream) becomes "개꿈" which means a dream of no significance (here, 꿈 does not mean your aspirations; it really means the thing that you experience when you sleep).

But people noticed that this prefix actually does something else. It just emphasized the meaning of the root word. If you think about it, death is uncivilized no matter what, so adding 개- just emphasized the unpleasantness of death. A dream is meaningless already, so 개꿈 is even more meaningless.

Thus, a new usage was born. Nowadays, if you want to say that the piece of cake you're eating is amazing, you can say "이 케이크 맛있다." To emphasize it even further, you say "이 케이크 개맛있다." If you really really like your K-pop band, you could say "나 그 밴드 개좋아해" (I f-ing like that band). If that test was really hard, you can say "시험 개어려웠다" (Test was f-ing hard). See a really pretty girl? Say "그 여자애 개예쁘다" (that girl is f-ing pretty). You recently came across an amazing windfall? You can say "개이득" meaning "f-ing gain."

If you want to be slightly more polite and avoid the word "dog," you can also replace "개-" with "핵-" meaning "nuclear." It's still slang, so don't use it in the formal setting, but your parents are definitely less likely to get upset with you for using this. So you say "이 케이크 핵맛있다," "나 그 밴드 핵좋아해," "시험 핵어려웠다," "그 여자애 핵예쁘다," "핵이득" etc. This is not as widespread as "개-" just because it's less funny, but people will understand you!

It works with pretty much any adjective, while not being nearly as vulgar as the f-word. You can try using it with your friends, and they will be entertained! But again, do not use it to your teachers or superiors; they will think that you are being rude!

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