[Korean Culture & Language] 귀, 커, 명, 띵

 

Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!


Below is a scene from one of the most popular shows in Korea, Infinite Challenge(무한도전). 


앵귀리지
https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%95%B5%EC%BB%A4%EB%A6%AC%EC%A7%80


“앵커리지 한인회관” is written on the building, which means “Korean Community of Anchorage”. But since ‘커’ looks like ‘귀,’ Hyung-don misreads it as “앵귀리지 한인회관”. While Hyung-don explains why he misread it, the caption below reads, “Blaming on the banner… It looks like 앵귀리”.

Do you remember that people who like 야민정음s often replace 대 with 머, and 근 with ㄹ since they resemble each other so closely? For the same reason, many people use 커 for 귀. So, “커엽다” means “귀엽다(cute)”. Since ‘귀’ and ‘커’ looks so similar, you can write 커엽다 for 귀엽다(cute), 커빈 for 귀빈(VIP), 까마커 for 까마귀(Crow), and 뗑컨 for 펭귄(Penguin) in informal situations.

Like ‘댕댕이,’ the word ‘커엽다’ is so popular that it’s used daily. When someone says “저 댕댕이 너무 커엽다,” most people understand it as “저 멍멍이 너무 귀엽다(That puppy is so cute)”.

One of the popular Sana (from Twice) videos is titled “사나 골룡 (발음커엽),” which means “Sana Dinosaur (Cute pronunciation)”. Koreans think Sana’s Japanese accent is 커엽다 when she speaks Korean.

 

Another popular way of using 야민정음 is writing ‘띵’ for ‘명’. If you say “띵곡” or “띵작” most young people will know that you’re referring to ‘명작’ (masterpiece) and ‘명곡 (Musical masterpiece)”. Below is a video by 띵잘 (띵작 추천해주는 잘생긴 남자 Hansome guy who recommends masterpiece), a YouTuber with 630k subscribers.


While some of 야민정음s like 댕댕이, 커엽다, 띵작, and 띵곡 are so popular that they are used every day, others like 커빈 (VIP), 까마커 (Crow), and 뗑컨 (Penguin) aren’t as widely used. Try using them in appropriate situations!

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