[Korean Culture & Language] 떡 줄 사람은 생각도 않는데 김칫국부터 마신다


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Westerners say “don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” when someone depends on something hoped for before he or she knows for certain that it will happen. 

What about Koreans? The closest Korean idiom is:

The equivalent Korean proverb is ”떡 줄 사람은 생각도 않는데 김칫국부터 마신다”.


source: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%96%A1

떡 is rice cake

줄 is give

사람 is person

생각 is think

않는데 is doesn’t

김칫국 is Kimchi soup

마신다 is drink

It means to “drink Kimchi soup before someone gives you rice cakes.”

Koreans used to eat rice cakes with kimchi soup in the old days because kimchi soups are known to assist digestion. However, Kimchi soup here refers to 동치미 instead of a regular Kimchi soup we eat today. 동치미, which literally means “winter water kimchi,” is mild water-based kimchi. It is made with a white radish called dongchimi mu during the kimjang (kimchi making season) and eaten during the winter. 

Radishes are known to be high in roughage and fiber and contain enzymes that help digestion.

“Drinking Kimchi soup” is a sarcastic expression to illustrate someone who notices their neighbor making rice cakes, and drinks Kimchi soup before finding out if the neighbor will actually give them the rice cakes. 

If your friend is busy picking out a date outfit while the girl has yet to agree to go on a date with him, you can say “떡 줄 사람은 생각도 않는데 김칫국부터 마신다”. 


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