Sometimes, I say words in English assuming that it’s an actual word, but turns out it isn’t? So I have compiled for you the English based Korean slangs that sometimes gets mistaken to be actual English words.
- Some
This is the equivalent of “wheels” in nowadays English slang. It is when two people like each other and act like a couple. But they aren’t officially a couple because there was no spoken agreement that they are dating. Koreans say that you’re riding (like a wave) on some, which means that you have wheels. There, in fact, is a song that came out last year called Some.
- Skinship
This is a mash up word of kinship and skin. It is used to describe intimacy, or the act of being intimate through a physical connection to the other person. It includes anything from tucking the other person’s hair behind their ears to holding hands to hugging and more. It doesn’t only apply in a male-female situation; you could be hugging your best friend of the same gender and still be considered to be doing some skinship.
- Selca
This too is a mash up word of self and camera. While in English it is called a “selfie” in Korean, it is called selca. Similar to selfie, selca could mean a photo with a bunch of other people, but as long as you are holding up the camera to face yourself (and the other people) it is considered a selca. But the selfie sticks are called selfie sticks in Korean too.
- Fighting
Pronounced “hwaiting” or “pahiting”, people say this to cheer people on. It could mean “cheers”, “let’s go”, “do your best”, or “good luck.” No one really knows the origin of this word.
- All-kill
In Kpop, this is a song that reaches the top in all music charts. However, it could be used for anything that involves levels and scores. The following song was the biggest hit in Korea. It is called Growl by Exo. It was awarded triple crown (first place for three weeks) on a music show and it had broke the highest selling album record that had not been broken for 26 years.
- Antis
Specific to Kpop, these are the people who oppose Kpop. Not liking Kpop all that much does not make you an anti, you have to hate it, as much as the fangirls love it to be considered an anti. Antis can do anything from sending defaced pictures to celebrities to giving them a water bottle with glue in it.
- Bagel Girl
It is another mash up word of baby in “baby face” and glamorous. This is a girl who has a baby face, a face that looks younger than the person’s actual age, but a glamorous, curvy body.
- Bias
This is your favourite celebrity. A bias could be a single person or the entire group, in the case of Kpop idol groups. A bias ruiner, on the other hand, is a celebrity that threatens the position of your current bias. For example, one may say, “My bias was Sehun until I saw Luhan in his new movie. What a bias ruiner!” (Generally, the international, non-Korean fans of Kpop uses these terms). My bias is Sehun of Exo (as seen below), but I have not had a bias ruiner yet.
- CF
Short for commercial film, it is just an advertisement featuring a celebrity. Usually the CF not only promotes the product, but also the celebrity themselves. Sometimes CFs could be a parody of a song, drama, movie, etc. that the celebrity was featured in, or they could be just a normal advertisement that you’d see anywhere around the world. The following video is a CF filmed by Exo and the music is one of their own songs.
- Comeback, concept
Both words have to do with Kpop, mostly, but they could apply to Kdramas too. Comeback is a new release (song, drama, movie, etc.). Concept is the theme they comeback with. Sometimes a Kpop group can have a single concept that they reuse with slight variations. Other times, they use a different concept with each comeback. The following is a comeback teaser video for Exo. (It will be coming out soon this year)!
