[Korean Culture & Language] Taking pride in being small

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It has become a trend to put ‘부심(pride)’ after a word. For example, ’먹부심’ means to ‘take pride in being able to eat a lot,’ ‘키부심’ means to ‘take pride in one’s height,’ and ‘성적부심' means ‘to be proud of one’s grades’.

Photo by Artem Page on Unsplash

Ex)
A: 민수 키부심 대단하더라
Min-soo takes such great pride in his height.

B: 걔 키 별로 안 큰 것 같은데… 걔 키 몇이래?
I don’t think he is even that tall… How tall is he?

A: 176이라고 했나 177이라고 했나?
He said he was either 176cm or 177cm.

B: 그러면 평균 이상 겨우 넘는 것 아니야?
Isn’t that just a little above average?

A: 내 말이… 내가 높은 곳에서 물건 꺼낼 때 마다 ‘이런 건 키 큰 사람이 해야 하는 거야’ 이래서 너무 짜증나
That’s what I’m saying. Every time I try to reach something high up, he appears out of nowhere and says ‘this is a tall person’s job’.


Because ‘부심’ has become so popular that many ridiculous forms of 부심s also have appeared. One of them is a ‘쪼꼬미부심 (take pride in being small)’.

The following meme illustrates a mother-in-law attempting to appeal to his son that his wife is big.

https://static.smalljoys.me/2020/07/2645343_ec8aa4ed81aceba6b0ec83b7-2020-07-21-ec98a4ed9b84-3-09-27_1595312292.png

She keeps asking her daughter-in-law to try her clothes when she’s 157cm and 39kg and her daughter-in-law is 172cm and 65kg. The mother-in-law tells her son things like ‘This shirt looks different when your wife wears it and when I wear it, right? When I wear it, it looks like a dress. When she wore it, it didn’t even fit’.

Do you know someone with a ridiculous sense of 부심? What kind of 부심 do they have?

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