2.3 Loanwords That Do Not Mean What You Think — Epoché
What you will be able to do Recognise twenty-five loanwords whose Korean meaning is not the English one, and give the Korean meaning for each. Say what you would actually be understood to have said if you used the English sense. Name the three ways a borrowed word drifts: clipping, narrowing, and passing through another language first. Check a suspect loanword rather than trusting it. Prerequisites : 2.2, which gave you the spelling rules. You also need lesson 2.1 Loanwords , where the sixty transparent loanwords were, because this lesson is the correction to the confidence that one produces. Lesson 2.1 was the good news and this is the bill. A word that came from English is a Korean word now, and Korean has done to it whatever Korean needed: shortened it, narrowed it, widened it, or taken it second-hand from Japanese along with a meaning English never had. The list below is not long, but every item on it is a sentence an English speaker will get wrong with complete confidence, which is worse than not knowing. Word list Read the second column before the third. The third column is what you would have said if you used the English sense — that is the part worth remembering. Word Meaning Notes 핸드폰 ko haendeupon mobile phone Note for English speakers From "hand phone", which is not English. Saying "mobile" or "cell phone" in Korean will not be understood; the word for it is this one. 핸드폰을 깜빡했어요. I've forgotten my mobile. 아파트 ko apateu a flat; a high-rise housing complex Note for English speakers Clipped from "apartment", but it names the tower or the estate as often as the dwelling. An English speaker means one home; a Korean may mean twenty floors of them. 나는 작은 아파트에 살아요. I live in a small apartment. 원룸 ko wonnum a studio flat Note for English speakers From "one room". Not the English "one room", which is a count; this is a category of housing, the smallest kind rented to students. 빌라 ko billa a low-rise block of flats Note for English speakers From "villa". It means the opposite of what an English speaker expects: not a large house, but a small walk-up building, usually cheaper than an 아파트 . 에어컨 ko air conditioner Note for English speakers Clipped from "air conditioner". "Air con" is British informal English; here it is the ordinary word, and the full form is not used. 리모컨 ko remote control Note for English speakers The same clipping habit: "remo-con". The English phrase in full would not be recognised. 사이다 ko saida a clear lemon-lime fizzy drink Note for English speakers From "cider", by way of Japanese. It contains no apples and no alcohol. Ordering cider and receiving lemonade is the classic version of this lesson's mistake. 미팅 ko miting a meeting; also a group blind date Note for English speakers The business sense exists, but among students the word means an arranged social meeting between groups of men and women. Context decides, and a foreigner who assumes the office sense can accept an invitation they did not understand. 내일 오후 미팅에 오실 수 있으세요? Can you come to the meeting tomorrow afternoon? 소개팅 ko sogaeting a one-to-one blind date Note for English speakers Half Sino-Korean, half English: the element for "introduction" plus the end of 미팅 . There is no English word behind the whole thing. 컨닝 ko cheating in an examination Note for English speakers From "cunning". English "cunning" is a character trait; this is an action, and a punishable one. 팬티 ko paenti underwear, of any kind and any wearer Note for English speakers From "panties", but with none of the English word's restriction to women or its awkwardness. A man buying underwear asks for this. 글래머 ko geullaemeo curvaceous (of a woman's figure) Note for English speakers From "glamour", narrowed to a single physical description. Using it as English "glamorous" will be misheard. 서비스 ko seobiseu service; also something given free Note for English speakers The second sense is the surprising one: a plate the restaurant did not charge for is 서비스 . English "service" never means "on the house". 셀프 ko self-service Note for English speakers From "self". A sign reading 셀프 beside the water jug means fetch it yourself, not "self". 노트 ko noteu a notebook Note for English speakers From "note", but it is the book, not the note written in it. The thing you write is 메모 . 노트북 ko noteubuk a laptop computer Note for English speakers From "notebook", narrowed to the computer. Saying 노트북 for a paper notebook will be understood as a machine. 화이팅 ko Go on! You can do it! Note for English speakers From "fighting", used as encouragement. Nothing to do with a fight, and said to someone about to sit an exam. 스킨십 ko seukinsip physical affection, touching Note for English speakers From "skin" plus "-ship", a compound that does not exist in English. It covers hand-holding and hugging, and is a normal topic of conversation. 오피스텔 ko opiseutel a studio flat in a commercial building Note for English speakers "Office" plus "hotel", coined in Korean. A category of property, advertised by that name. 포켓볼 ko poketbol pool (the game) Note for English speakers "Pocket ball", coined via Japanese. English "pool" will not be understood, and English "pocket ball" means nothing. 아르바이트 ko areubaiteu a part-time job Note for English speakers From German Arbeit , "work", by way of Japanese, and narrowed to part-time work only. Usually clipped to 알바 (lesson 2.4). 가스 ko gaseu gas, for cooking Note for English speakers Narrow: the cooking or bottled gas, not petrol and not a gas in the physical sense. Petrol is 기름 . 파이팅 ko paiting the same as 화이팅 Note for English speakers Two spellings for one word, because the English f has two possible landings. Both are in print; neither is wrong. 매너 ko maeneo manners; considerate behaviour Note for English speakers Used of a person in the singular where English needs the plural: a man described as having 매너 is well-mannered. 텐션 ko tensyeon energy level, mood Note for English speakers From "tension", but with the opposite colouring: high 텐션 is cheerful