[Korean Culture & Language] Goblin Power

Hello, this is Uptempo!


The title of the video below is ‘매력 없는 사람 특징’. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BImjp_NFyfk

‘매력’ means ‘charm,’ '없다' means ‘don’t’ have,’ ‘사람’ means ‘a person,’ and ‘특징’ means ‘characteristic(s)’. So, ‘매력 없는 사람 특징’ means ‘Characteristics of someone who is not charming(or doesn’t have a personality)’. 

‘Having no personality’ was once expected, especially of women, and being ‘청순(pure and innocent)’ used to be considered the ideal quality in a woman in Korea.

However, being charming has become more important recently.

The video begins when Jung-woo asks his friends ‘사람의 매력이 어디서 나온다고 생각해?(What 

qualities make a person charming?)’. He continues and describes his girlfriend as ‘무매력(not charming)’. She tells him that she’s fine when she’s actually hungry, she pretends to like watching movies she doesn’t like simply to please Jung-woo, and she doesn’t even have the nerve to tell him that her feet hurt from her high heels when he asks to go for a walk. 


Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash

‘매(魅)’ is a Chinese letter for ‘goblin,’ and ‘력(力)’ is a Chinese letter for ‘power’. The direct translation of ‘매력’ is ‘the goblin’s pulling power'.

Because people in the old days couldn’t understand why people were being so strongly drawn to one another, they assumed that a goblin was drawing them together or that they were possessed by one.

매력(Charm) can come from one’s 외모(appearance), 성격(personality), 태도(behavior), or 능력(talent). What kind of person do you find 매력 있다(charming)?

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