[Korean Culture & Language] 고진감래

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Photo by Aakanksha Panwar on Unsplash

고진감래(苦盡甘來) is a Korean/Chinese idiom that means: Every cloud has a silver lining.

고(苦) means suffering

진(盡) means after

감(甘) means sweetness

래(來) means to come



However, someone jokingly created a new idiom with it:

source: https://twitter.com/melikezzal/status/1153011734002540544

고: 고용해 주셔서 (for hiring me)

진: 진짜 (really/so much)

감: 감사한데 (Thank you, but…)

래: 집에갈래 (I want to go home)

So, it means “Thank you so much for hiring me, but I want to go home”. It’s a funny and clever way of expressing how many employees feel.

Another humorous way of expressing ‘고진감래’ was: 고생을 진탕하고 나면 감기 몸살이 온다



고: 고생 (suffering)

진: 진탕 하고나면 (after so much - 진탕 means ‘so much to the point where one’s sick of it’)

감: 감기몸살이 (flu-like fatigue)

래: 온다 (come)

Some people complain and say, “Why is it not 고진감래, but 고고고고?” implying that only suffering continues. 

There’s even an alcoholic beverage named ‘고진감래주’. It’s a mixture of beer, soju, and coke.

source: https://showmeyournews.tistory.com/24

To make 고진감래주, you should first pour coke into a ‘소주잔(soju glass=shot glass)’, pour soju into another 소주잔, and then place the second 소주잔 in a beer glass. Pour beer into the beer glass to completely submerge the second 소주잔. 

Because ‘고진감래주’ tastes like beer and soju at first(bitter), and then tastes like coke(sweet) at the end, it’s named ‘고진감래주’. 

I hope your life represents 고진감래 or 감래감래 rather than 고고고고.