[Korean Culture & Language] Your son named 'Flu'


Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!


According to Albamon, 88.8% of Korean college students claimed that if their crushes regularly misspelled words, they would lose interest in them. Female students (93.7%) were more likely than male students (80.4%) to respond this way.


The following meme reads: 

“당신이 낳으라고 하신 우리 아들 감기예요
“This is our son, ‘Flu’ that you asked me to give birth to”

“아니… 제가 언제…”
“What… When did I say that…?”

“안아 보셔요”
“Would you like to hold him?”


The meme is making fun of someone who misspells ‘나아’ as ‘낳아’. ‘나아’ means ‘get well,’ and ‘낳아’ means ‘to give birth’. 

Even though it is a basic spelling, many people used to get it wrong. Thankfully, this meme became popular, encouraging more people to spell ‘낳아’ correctly.


Ex) 

A: 너무 아파서 요즘 잠을 못잤어

I haven't been sleeping well because I'm sick.

B: 어떡해 ㅠㅠ 얼른 낳았으면 좋겠다 (x)

Oh no ☹ I hope you give birth soon (x)

어떡해 ㅠㅠ 얼른 나았으면 좋겠다 (o)

Oh no ☹ I hope you feel better soon (o)


Ex) 

A: 딩크족이 뭐야?

What does DINK mean?

B: 아이 없이 맞벌이 하면서 사는 부부를 말하는 거야

DINK stands for ‘Dual Income, No Kids’

A: 그 사람들은 평생 아이를 낳지 않아?

So, they won’t have babies for the rest of their lives?

B: 그건 몰라. 마음이 바뀌면 달라질 수도 있지.

I’m not sure. They might if they change their minds.


Please make sure that you don’t make someone ‘give birth(낳아)’ when they aren’t even pregnant!

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