[Korean Culture & Language] Rice in Korean words

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Rice is very important to Koreans. It’s on our minds a lot. Not only do we like how it tastes in our mouths, but we also like how it tastes in our words. Words have flavor, and we Koreans like to have our words with some warm cooked rice. In other words, we like some 밥 in our words.

	밥
sound	bap
meaning	cooked rice

밥 is cooked rice, but it can also mean food in general. So when someone asks you, “밥 먹었어?” they are not asking whether you had rice; they are asking whether you ate.

	밥 먹었어?
sound	bap meo-geo-sseo?
meaning	Did you eat (your meal)?

In the same way, ‘집밥 (jip-bap)’ means ‘house rice,’ but it really means ‘a homemade meal.’ And ‘공밥 (gong-bap)’ means ‘empty rice,’ but it really means ‘a free meal.’ And ‘콩밥 (kong-bap)’ means ‘rice with beans,’ and this can mean ‘prison food.’

So Koreans associate rice with food in general. But food is not the only thing we associate with rice. A short piece of string is called ‘실밥 (shil-bap),’ which means ‘string rice.’ And ‘귓밥 (gwit-bap)’ means ‘ear rice,’ but it really means ‘earlobe.’ And ‘sawdust’ is called ‘톱밥 (top-bap),’ which means ‘saw rice.’ I guess a piece of string, an earlobe, and sawdust all look like rice to the Korean brain. 

So we use rice to refer to edible and nonedible physical objects. But rice is used in constructing abstract concepts too. ‘짬밥 (jjam-bap)’ is what we call ‘military food,’ but this can also mean ‘work or life experience.’ So if one says, “I’ve had a lot of 짬밥 in this area,” that person is saying “I’m very experienced in this area.”

Another good example is ‘통밥 (tong-bap),’ which can be literally translated as ‘barrel rice,’ or ‘rice in a barrel.’ 통밥 refers to the “ability” to solve a problem by relying on sheer guessing. For example, let’s say you find yourself taking a multiple-choice exam that you haven’t studied for. In this situation, what can you do except use your 통밥? It’s time to tap into your guessing faculties and hope for the best. In other words, it’s time to “roll your 통밥”:

	통밥 굴리다
sound	tong-bap gool-lee-da
meaning	roll the 통밥; use one’s guessing “ability”

For me, the idea of rolling one’s 통밥 (barrel of rice) invokes images of ancient fortune telling methods. In <The Lion King>, there’s a scene where Rafiki, the shaman monkey, takes a fistful of airborne debris, throws it into an empty turtle shell, and stirs the shell until he sees a pattern that indicates Simba’s whereabouts. That’s the kind of image associated with rolling one’s 통밥, in my head. 

밥 is a staple in the Korean diet, language, and culture. We use it to describe food, physical objects, and abstract concepts. I think 밥 is in our words a lot because it makes us feel warm and cozy inside, because it reminds us of home.