An alternative title for this post might be, “Everything you didn’t understand your Korean friend say but were afraid to ask.” While browsing through the more useless features of my new EW-K3000 I found a section on Korean-English expressions in something called eBoyoung’s Dictionary of English Conversational Expressions. I also found more Konglish words on this site. I typed up a lot of these (I don’t think you can copyright a list of this nature) and listed them below for your perusal. Anyone who speaks Japanese will note that a lot of Konglish terms are also found in Japanese. I am particularly fond of the bizarre or humorous Konglish phrases ones like “overeat”,”walkers”, and “Let’s Dutch pay!” I’m sure there some great stories behind some of these phrases.
accel |
accelerator |
audio | audio system |
back | connection |
back music | background music |
ball pen | ball-point pen |
bridge | bleach |
concent | outlet |
diary | schedule book |
driver | screwdriver |
eye shopping | window shopping |
gagman | comedian |
golden time | prime time |
handle | steering wheel |
hand-phone | cell phone |
heading shoot | header |
hearing | listening comprehension |
Klaxon | horn |
Let’s Dutch pay! | Let’s go Dutch! |
manicure | nail polish |
massage | facial |
meeting | blind date |
morning call | wake-up call |
MT | retreat |
oil | gas |
old miss | old maid |
open car | convertible |
overeat | vomit |
remocon | remote control |
revival | cover |
rinse | hair conditioner |
salary man | office worker |
service | free of charge |
sign | autograph |
skin | toner |
sports dance | ballroom dance |
talent | TV star |
walker | combat boots |
Nice list! Yeah, you are right you can’t copyright a list of words but you can copyright whatever you use to distribute them (e.g. for merchandise like books or software, etc)
Excellent list. Have heard almost all of them and only bn in Korea for month now!! Love hand phone the most. Were in a restaurant in Seoul, there was a tissue holder with puppy and full grown dog on it, it had some sentence about love, and then below Dog and Dog, instead of puppy and dog – Hilarious.
Regards
Anri
I have a few more
y-shirts (pronounced Y-sha-su) : a (dress) shirt
vacance (pronounced ba-cang-su) : vacation, holiday
panty (pronounced pen-ti) : knickers or y-fronts
D/C : discount
A/S : after-sales service
terebi : TV
apart : apartment
cun-ning : cheating (in a test)
punk : tire puncture
sharp : mechanical/propelling pencil
mising : sewing machine
Hi there.
I am currently teaching English in Korea and I need the whole list of the Konglish words. Where can I get the whole list of them ?
Thanks for your time and trouble.