#65. 까방권 -- No one gets to badmouth you. Ever.

In the world of K-entertainment, there are a few things that can drag even the most-loved superstar of the highest popularity down into the mud in the blink of an eye. The two biggest reasons that can end your career are 왕따 scandal and 병역 scandal ("병역" means "military duty" -- "병" is chinese for "army," as in "병사 (soldier)" or "병력 (strength of the army)," and "역" means "duty," as in "역할 (given responsibility).") Being the instigator to ostracize...

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#64. 먹튀 -- Dine and dash

The Korean internet has been pretty heated the past couple of days. A news story broke two days ago, which simply stated that a business CEO has been called in by the prosecutors on the charge of blackmailing a celebrity. It was said that the CEO demanded about $160,000 USD from this celebrity, telling her that if she doesn't comply, her nude video will be released to the public. This outraged the Koreans, and the CEO was called by all sorts...

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#63. Beware of the vixen (Shamanism 3)

Gather around with your roasted chestnuts and a blanket, lie on the warmest part of the stone-heated floor, and I'll tell you some stories from my childhood that my grandparents have told me. Through the "folklore" series of this blog, you will get to meet the Korean deities and the demons, which form the basis of the modern Korean shamanism as well. I will upload a folklore every Wednesday. There are several aspects of the ancient shamanism...

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#62. 종특 -- I expected nothing less from you people

You might have noticed that the Koreans can be slightly insensitive about racism and the ensuing stereotypes. I like to attribute this to the fact that Korea is originally formed exclusively of Asians, and it has not been long since the "foreigners" have started moving to Korea to live. I, for one, had not seen any non-Koreans until I was about seven or eight, and when I first saw a non-Korean, I was genuinely shocked and amazed that this person was so different from everyone else I knew. I knew it was rude to stare, but I definitely stole way...

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#61. 짤방 -- Pictures included

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new page on my website, which is an alphabetized list of the Korean slang that I have covered so far, and you can find the link on the sidebar for desktop, and if you scroll down on mobile. Alternatively, just click here for the Korean Slang Dictionary. I plan to add to it as I add more posts here! If you have spent any time on the Korean internet, you have surely seen the word "짤" or "짤방." It's not too hard...

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#60. 교과서 튜닝 -- Improving your school experience

One of the most striking thing when I moved from Korea to North America was the fact that you don't own your textbooks (called 교과서 in Korean). In North America (at least, in my experience!) the textbooks in schools are bought in bulk in hardcover, and rented to the student for the semester. If you damage it, you have to pay a penalty or replace it, so you take very good care of your textbook. On the other hand, in Korea, you are provided all of...

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Listening exercise with transcript #10: Aggravation

In a previous post, I had talked about hostile behaviour against many people, in order to provoke them and create a fight (= internet entertainment.) Such a behaviour is called "어그로," or as a verb, "어그로를 끌다." I also gave an example of such a behaviour, done by a national news outlet. Here is another example of 어그로, also done by a national news outlet MBC (one of the three largest broadcasting companies in Korea.) Although it's been a long time since this clip was broadcast, the content of the clip propelled it to a legendary status, and it is...

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