[Korean Culture & Language] Trying to slice the water with a knife


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Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash

All couples fight. It's completely natural and it’s all part of the experience of being in a relationship. Conflict is unavoidable, but it does not have to be emotionally draining or harsh. Couples can disagree or argue while still exhibiting love and respect for each other.


There’s a saying in Korea, “부부싸움은 칼로 물 베기 (Married couple’s fight is like trying to cut water with a knife)”. We all know that we can’t cut water with a knife. Trying to slice the water with a knife is pointless. Likewise, emotionally draining arguments are rarely productive or result in positive outcomes. When you try to cut water, it instantly reconnects. To put it another way, a married couple’s relationship is difficult to break. It’s pointless to try to break one.


Photo by Giuseppe Mondì on Unsplash

The wife being ‘cute’ seems to help the relationship. There’s an idiom “아내가 귀여우면 처갓집 문설주도 귀엽다,” which is translated to “If one’s wife is cute, even the door pillar of the wife's family’s house looks cute.” 

It can have three different meanings: 

1) If the wife is nice, everything related to the wife looks nice. 

2) If you become extremely charmed with something, the entire world appears to be charming.

3) It’s harder to pass harsh judgment on someone you like a lot, so you become more prone to make mistakes around them.

It is similar to the idiom “콩깍지가 씌었다 (One has broad bean skins on one’s eyes)”


Do you think it's like “trying to slice the water with a knife” when a married couple fights?

Have you ever liked someone so much that even their “door pillar” looks cute?


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