The words from this week's WWW are what we like to call “Konglish”.
Defined by Wikipedia, “is the use of English words (or words derived from English words) in a Korean context. The words, having initially been taken from English language, are either actual English words in Korean context”. You’ll notice that the first 5 words are actual English words. The last five have originated as English words, but take on a whole new meaning in Korean.
파이팅 (Fighting) is actually a word of encouragement in Korean and far from a bloody fist fight.
핸드폰 (Hand phone) is not actually a hand + a phone. Instead, it’s your cell phone. Kind of clever!
볼펜 (Ball pen) is not a ball + a pen. Where’s the fun in that? Instead it originated from ball point pent (guess they didn’t like the point so much) and it just means pen.
화이트 (White) is not just a color. In Korea, if someone says 화이트, they’re probably trying to fix a mistake- they need white out.
And when you’re 아이쇼핑, you’re not actually looking for a new set of eyes. If you were, you would never actually buy them, as 아이쇼핑 actually refers to window shopping.
I’d have to say, overall, my favorite Konglish word must be 타이어 as it is technically one consonant followed by 3 vowels, since two of the sounds (“i” and “r”) don’t exist in the Korean language (for those more advanced, “r” exists, but only as the initial or middle sound, never the last sound, as it is in tire). For more Konglish, visit this website.
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