Thinking back to my time as a student in Korea, I felt as if I existed to fit into a group. I really did everything that I could to not stick out. In my juvenile mind, the easiest thing to do was to do what the others were doing. If everyone in my group got a particular pen and raved about it, then I would get it too, even though it was way over my allowance budget. If everyone wanted to go eat 떡볶이 (spicy rice cakes), then I would go too, even though I hated spicy food (and still do!)
Nowadays, I hear that things are a bit tougher in the Korean schools.
The "it" items are supposedly no longer a fancy pen, or heading off to a street food stall to eat 떡볶이. The popular kids at school now wear expensive coats (North Face was the popular brand a few years ago; Canada Goose had its fifteen minutes of spotlight, and so on.) They wear designer shoes, and carry fancy backpacks. And everyone else wants to do the same to fit in.
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| This photo was taken at a graduation ceremony of a middle school, back when North Face was the brand to be wearing. Could you stand to not wear one of these, and risk sticking out? |
But of course, buying an expensive coat that costs $500-1000 USD is not within their allowance budget at all. The only way for the students to get it is to beg their parents until they give in. And even then, it's not a trivial sum of money that the parents can just cough out. It probably stressed them out, and some parents probably spent the money that they couldn't afford.
From this, the internet users started calling these students "등골 브레이커."
The word "등골" comes from "등의 골짜기," or "the valley in your back." It refers to the fact that your back where the spine lies underneath looks like a valley.
And the word "브레이커" comes from the English word "breaker."
Putting them together, the internet users are mocking these students for breaking the spines (of their parents), because their parents probably had to do some rough work to be able to afford these coats. In the Koreans' collective mind, the rough work is often working for a construction site, carrying heavy load in their backs (somehow, that seems like the hardest work that you can do!) and severely damaging their backs.
There are many other instances of "등골브레이커" other than these young 급식충, though!
Many parents pay the college tuition of their children; some young adults have to take their college entrance test multiple times in order to get into good universities, and their parents usually pay for the cost associated to taking the test again (these students often enroll themselves in a private academy or 학원 in Korean to study); some children want their video games which are expensive; and some people expect their parents to help them out when they get married, often into the six figures in USD. You get the idea.
Remember that Korean values are based on Confucianism, which stresses filial piety (효도 -- this is such a common word in Korean that I am always shocked that there does not exist an equivalent common word in English!) So the act of being a 등골브레이커 is particularly terrible in Korea.
So although this word is probably less than a decade old, it has struck a chord with all Koreans. This word is used widely in the media, as well as by the Koreans of all ages. Also notice that the word is made up of an English word and a Korean word, so this combination, as usual (see an example), gives some humour into the word as well, which sits well with the Koreans. As long as you don't use this word in a formal report, most Koreans would understand (and probably agree) with you, if you use it in appropriate places!
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