[Korean Culture & Language] Giving it to a dog

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Greed happens when a person’s impulse to accumulate and consume resources like food, material wealth, or fame outweighs the restraints that keep a group’s social relationships intact, according to Andrew Lo, an MIT professor who studies the relationship between neuroscience and economics.

Photo by James Lacy on Unsplash

There’s a Korean saying, ‘나 먹자니(갖기는) 싫고 개(남) 주자니 아깝다’. It is directly translated to ‘I don’t want to eat(have) it, but it feels like a waste to give it to a dog (or someone else)’. It refers to a situation where someone is so stingy that they keep something simply because they don’t want to give it away or because they don’t want anyone else to have it, even when they don’t want or need it.

Ex)

A: He replied to my messages and suggested that we meet up this weekend!

B: Did you ask him if he wanted to get back together?

A: Yeah. I’ve asked twice since we’ve broken up.

B: What were his answers?

A: He said, ‘no’.

B: I warned you. He is keeping you around and leading you on simply because he doesn’t want you to date anyone else. He clearly doesn’t seem to want you back, either (자기 갖기는 싫고 남 주자니 아까운거야).


A famous song by Jeon Somi, What You Waiting For, also illustrates a situation where the guy doesn’t want her but doesn’t want her to date anyone else.

The following are the lyrics of ‘What You Waiting For’:

너 땜에 그래

This is all because of you.

애꿎은 전화기만 미워지잖아

I vent on my phone, which hasn’t done anything wrong.

잘해주지나 말던가?

You shouldn’t have led me on.

남 주긴 아깝지만 갖긴 싫은지?

Is it that you don’t want me but don’t want anyone else to have me?

굳이 이해는 안 할게

I’m not going to try and understand you.

날 향한 미소가 야속해

It’s heartbreaking to see you smile at me.

자꾸 그렇게 쳐다 보지 마

Please stop staring at me like that

오늘은 애써 모른 척 못하겠어


I can’t pretend like I don't care.

이젠 솔직히 말해줘

Please tell me the truth now.

Just tell me what you waiting for

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