#35. 월급루팡 -- A very very sweet job

This is a quick post because I am on a vacation! While I was packing for my vacation, I started thinking about how I still get paid from my job during the time that I'm away even though I am not really working, and how my job really is pretty sweet!

That being said, there are sweeter jobs online. Once I read about a software engineer who hired someone else at a lower price than his salary to do all of his work, and basically got free money for years before he was caught (due to security breech). I am sure there are other sweet jobs out there.

Koreans have a very specific word for this situation. For the software engineer above (or maybe even for myself!) they might say,

쟤는 월급루팡이야 (He/she just steals his/her salary.)

So the new word of the day is "월급루팡." You probably already know what "월급" means; it is just standard (and non-slang) Korean for "monthly salary." The interesting word here is "루팡."

"루팡," or Arsène Lupin, is a character in the classic French series who is a gentleman but also a thief. For most Koreans, Lupin is the natural archnemesis of Sherlock Holmes, and the name of Lupin is as well-known as the name of Holmes (but actually, if you read the Arsène Lupin series, he battles Herlock Sholmes, not Sherlock Holmes!)

Anyway, the word "월급루팡" means that the subject of this description is essentially stealing his salary (since they are getting their salary without doing anything!) I find it to be a cute usage, and something that I am doing right now, so I thought I would share this word with you.

As for the appropriateness, it's not particularly offensive, and I'd imagine that a lot of Koreans in their middle ages or younger would get the reference (I'm not sure if my grandma would, though!) It's informal, and although it's a combination of a Korean word and a French word, it doens't give the same level of vulgarity as a Korean+English combination (probably because fewer Koreans are familiar with French, so if you're trying to replace a Korean word by a French word, people can't decide if you're trying to be funny or trying to appear intelligent.) As always, don't use a word like this in a formal report!