I learned a new Korean expression from an elementary 2nd grader today – which is perhaps my preferred source of new Korean expressions.
She was describing another student as 눈치 없는 사람 [nun.chi eop.neun sa.ram], with a sigh of resignation. I said, what do you mean? She took the time to patiently explain it to me. This is why I like learning things from kids – they are more patient than adults in explaining things to clueless foreigners.
I had learned 눈치 as meaning something like “notice” or “telltale clue”. But apparently it also means “common sense” and “tact.” So a 눈치 없는 사람 is a tactless person, or a person with no common sense. For that matter, it might be a close match for American slang “clueless”, which seems capture the other valences of the word 눈치 well.
This is a very useful expression. A lot of kids have this issue.
Last night, after work, we had a 회식 (work dinner) to celebrate the end of exam-prep time. I wasn’t feeling very celebratory – I feel stressed, as we have looming month-end tests for elementary and the upcoming prepartion for our talent show thing at the end of May.
[daily log: walking, z km]