Uptempo Global

Hello, this is Uptempo! ‘ 절친 ’ means ‘ besties ’ or ‘ best friends ’. It came from the phrase ‘ 절친하다 ,’ which means ‘ very close ’.  Photo by   Courtney Cook   on   Unsplash Ex) A: 우리 내일 점심 먹으러 갈 때 은희도 오나? Is Eun-hee coming for lunch tomorrow? B: 민정이가 오니까 은희도 오겠지 Min-jeong is coming. That most likely means that Eun-hee’s coming, too. A: 아 맞네, 은희랑 민정이랑 절친이잖아! Oh, that’s right. I forgot that Eun-hee and Min-jeong are besties. The meme below demonstrates common characteristics shared among closest friends:  https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/608619337130925774/ 1. 서로의 흑역사를 줄줄이 꿰고 있음 1. Besties know every embarrassing story of each other ‘ 흑역사 ’ directly translates to ‘ dark history ’ but it actually means ‘ embarrassing stories ’ 2. 아무 말 안 해도 하나도 안 어색함 2. Besties feel comfortable being around each other without even saying a word. 아무 (any) 말 (words) 안하다 (don’t) 하나도 (not even a little) 어색하다 (awkward)  3. 나 아니면 놀아줄 사람 없는 것 같음 ( + 나도 마찬가지) 3. It seems like my best...

Hello, this is Uptempo! ‘ 고백(Go back )’ means something special in Korean. ‘ 고백하다 ’ means ‘ to confess one’s feelings ’. The act of expressing one’s love is usually sweet and romㅅantic. But there are horrible ways to ‘고백’. According to brunch.co.kr, some of the ‘최악의 고백 방법 (worst ways to confess one’s feelings)’ are: source:  https://brunch.co.kr/@a01022928909/478 01 혼자 일방적으로 썸타고 고백 (Flirting and confessing one’s love, knowing that the other person doesn’t feel the same way.) This would make the other person feel uncomfortable.  source: https://youtu.be/FmpVdmip7Jk 02 사람들 많은 곳에서 공개 고백 (Confessing one’s love in public) Since many Koreans are shy and would feel guilty rejecting someone in public, they are likely to feel forced to say yes when someone confesses their love in public. Furthermore, there’s a good chance they’d be ashamed as a result of the unwanted attention. If they were already in a relationship and knew the other person felt the same way about them, it would be a ...

Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers! Koreans love romance. Many K-dramas, music, and TV shows center on romance. Korean couples display their love with 시밀러룩 (matching ‘couple looks’) and celebrate Valentine’s Day and White Day with their significant others.  Photo by   Oziel Gómez   on   Unsplash Because not having a girlfriend or boyfriend, or ‘being solo’ is regarded as ‘sad’ in Korea, it is completely normal for someone to respond with worries and ask “Why don’t you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? You are such a good looking man/woman!” when you mention that you’re not dating anyone. Also, one of the most typical ice breaker questions Koreans ask is ‘남자친구/여자친구 있어요? (Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?’ The video below illustrates a few stories of how some people got into a relationship. A girl talks about how her crush asked her out. source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0tu5nKDdtU&t=4s 김짝남 (Kim Crush) 좋아요 means like 누르는 means press 사람 means person 올해 m...

Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers! Photo by   Andra C Taylor Jr   on   Unsplash Koreans might say “김치” (kimchi) when posing for pictures but cheese, or 치즈, is just as beloved as the spicy, fermented staple.  The popularity of cheese can be traced back to the early 1950s when the U.S. army left behind rations such as cheese, spam, and hotdogs, after the Korean War ended. These foods then infiltrated Korean cuisine and thus, the cheese revolution began. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/ First there was 부대찌개 (budae-jjigae, army stew), a mishmash of spam, ramen noodles, kimchi cooked as a spicy stew and garnished with slices of American cheese that melt into the broth as you dig in. Then in the late 1960s, a Belgian monk missionary arrived in 임실 (Imsil), a county in the northern 전라 (Jeolla) region, and began making cheese with the milk of the goats he raised. Before he knew it, his small cheese factory became a corporation now known as 임실 치즈 (Imsil Cheese). Today, 임실 치즈 b...

Hello, this is Uptempo! Researchers claimed in 1987 that while spouses’ faces didn’t resemble at the beginning of marriage, they got more similar as time went on, with the “degree of convergence positively correlated with couples’ ratings of marriage quality”. Couples tend to begin looking alike because they typically “occupy the same environments, engage in the same activities, eat the same food, and mimic each other’s emotional expressions.” All these can influence one’s facial features.  https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/couple-look-alike-research-study-long-term-relationship-b997294.html In Korea, there’s a saying “ 사랑하면 닮는다 (When two people are in love, they begin to resemble each another) ”. Do you recall how it was such a huge issue in Korea when Lee Young-ji stated on her show ‘차린건 없지만 (I Didn’t Prepare Much)’ that she had asked LAYONE out before but that LAYONE had turned her down?  LAYONE has recently uploaded a video in which he attempted to explain how he an...

Hello, this is Uptempo! The act of asking a girl/guy for their number is called ‘ 번호를 따다 ’. It is often used in its abbreviated form, ‘ 번따 ’. But what do you say after you’ve gotten their phone number and have been on a few dates with them and want to officially ask them out?  Photo by   Oziel Gómez   on   Unsplash You could say ‘I’m in this for the long-term. Do you want to be my boyfriend/girlfriend?,’ ‘Can we make it official and be boyfriend/girlfriend?’ or simply ask “Would you be my boyfriend/girlfriend?”.  In Korean, you can say ‘ 사귀자 (Be my girlfriend/boyfriend) ,’ ‘ 나랑 정식으로 만나볼래? (Would you like to make it official and be boyfriend/girlfriend?) ,’ or ‘ 우리 연애하자 (Let’s go steady) ’. The video below highlights the experiences of various people who have had their 심쿵 moments or how they asked their crush out.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0tu5nKDdtU&t=4s A girl from the first story says that her ‘ 짝남(crush) ’ used to call her a ‘ 살찐 수달(chubby ot...

Hello, this is Uptempo! Have you ever asked for a stranger’s phone number before? While sometimes portrayed as cliché or creepy, getting a girl’s number is nonetheless one of the most common methods to advance from being strangers to something more intriguing with a girl.  Simply by asking a girl’s number, you find out if they’d like to communicate with you. The act of asking a girl/guy for their number is called ‘ 번호를 따다 ’. In short, many people call it ‘ 번따 ’. Ex) 나 어제 연이랑 밥 먹고 있는데 갑자기 어떤 남자가 와서 번따 했어 . One guy came over to me and asked for my number when I was having dinner with Yeoni yesterday.  잘생겼어? Is he handsome? 응, 키 크고 잘생겼는데 좋은 남자 같진 않아. Yeah, he was tall and handsome. But he didn’t seem like a good guy. In the video below, a girl who’s found out to be a pathological liar says “사람들 눈을 잘 못 마주치거든… 근데 요즘 더 심해져서 너무 힘들어 (I have a hard time looking people in the eyes… It became more difficult recently)”.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q133D3SZd0&t=30s She con...