[Korean Culture & Language] The liver that doesn't receive any news

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Photo by Julien Sarazin on Unsplash

What do you think “The liver wouldn’t even receive any news” means?

Koreans say “간에 기별도 안 간다 (The liver wouldn’t even receive any news),” when there’s too little food for how hungry they are.

간 means liver, and 기별 means news. 

When we consume food, the stomach and intestines digest it, and the food enters the bloodstream and is transported to the 간(liver). The liver then eliminates poisons from the body or stores nutrients before releasing them back into the bloodstream or organs as needed. 

So, ‘liver not getting any news’ implies that the liver doesn’t even recognize the food that has been consumed.

Ex) 

A: 나 아침부터 아무것도 안 먹었어. 배고파 죽겠다 (I haven’t had anything since morning. I’m starving.)

B: 방금 전에 사과 먹었잖아 (You just had an apple)

A: 장난해? 그건 간에 기별도 안가지! (Are you kidding me? My liver wouldn’t even recognize it)


Photo by v2osk on Unsplash

There’s also a saying “간에 붙었다 쓸개에 붙었다 한다”. It is directly translated to “It keeps switching (attaching itself) back and forth between the liver and gallbladder”. It refers to a traitor or a turncoat who keeps switching to opposing sides or teams for selfish reasons. 

The liver and gallbladder are anatomically placed close to each other. The gallbladder is placed right below the liver and appears to be attached to it. This is probably why people used the metaphor to describe a traitor.

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