[Korean Culture & Language] Min-soo-ing

Hello, this is Uptempo! 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%EC%86%90%EB%AF%BC%EC%88%98

The caption on the first video reads ‘난 내 절친을 손민수 한다,’ which translates to ‘I Son Min-soo my best friend’. The second video reads ‘손민수 뜻 알려 드림,’ which means ‘I’ll tell you what Son Min-soo means’.

Son Min-soo is a character from 'Cheese in the Trap,' a South Korean webtoon/TV series that stars famous actors like Park Hae-jin, Kim Go-eun, Seo Kang-joon, and Lee Sung-kyung. 

Min-soo is a shy, timid, and introverted character who has poor self-esteem. No one in school even knew her name because she was such an outsider. She gained notoriety after she began imitating Seol, the charming and popular main character, to boost her self-esteem. 

When Nam Joo-yeon mixes laxatives in Seol’s drink, Min-soo exchanges Seol’s drink with Joo-yeon’s to save Seol. She admires Seol so much that Seol’s every word strongly affects her emotions. She does not only imitate Seol’s fashion and hairstyle, but she even buys the same items she does. Everyone began to see that Min-soo was copying Seol and started disliking her.

During the vacation, she has become a total fake Hong Seol. Her top, cross-bag, skinny jeans, boots, and her hair. 

Because this character has become so famous that ‘Son Min-soo’ is now used as a proper noun. Koreans now use the word ‘손민수(Son Min-soo)’ to describe someone who enjoys imitating others, and the word ‘손민수 하다(Son Min-soo-ing)’ to describe the act of obsessively copying someone.

Do you know of anyone who 손민수s others? Or have you ever 손민수ed someone before?


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