[Korean Culture & Language] Die-Almond

Hello, this is Uptempo!


What do sprinters eat before a race? – Nothing. They fast. 

I wish Covid-19 had started in Las Vegas. Because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

When it comes to dad jokes, it appears that there are either fans or haters. However, they are the most basic type of humor that will last as long as there are dads on the planet.

Koreans also have a love-hate relationship with dad jokes (아재개그).



‘세사람만 탈 수 있는 차: 인삼차’ is directly translated to ‘What do you call the car that only three people can ride? – Ginseng tea’.
세 means three
사람 means people
탈 means ride
~수 있다 means can
인삼 means ginseng
차 means car or tea

In Chinese letters, ‘인(人)’ stands for ‘people,’ ‘삼(蔘)’ stands for ‘ginseng’ and ‘차(茶)’ stands for ‘tea’

Because ‘삼’ means both ‘ginseng’ and ‘three,’ and ‘차’ means both ‘car’ and ‘tea,’ the above statement makes sense.


Photo by Nacho Fernández on Unsplash

‘아몬드가 죽으면: 다이아몬드’ is another well-known dad joke.
‘아몬드’ refers to ‘almond’
‘죽으면’ means ‘if __ die’
‘다이아몬드’ means ‘diamond’

The sentence is translated to ‘What do you name an almond that has died – Diamond’. 

Because Koreans do not pronounce ‘Almond’ with an ‘L’ sound, ‘diamond’ sounds like ‘die-almond’ to Koreans.


Did any of the above Korean dad jokes make you laugh?

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