Category: 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

I found this aphorism in my aphorism book.

달팽이 뚜껑 덮었다
dal.paeng.i ttu.kkeong deop.eot.da
snail lid cover-PAST
The snail keeps covered.

This means that people who keep to themselves are unknowable. Which seems kind of self-evident, but in a culture like Korea’s where a major portion of socialization among peers is “enforced” (obligatory at some level), keeping to oneself is an outlier personality trait.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

My friend Seungbae taught me this four-character aphorism over the weekend.

靑出於藍
청출어람
cheong.chul.eo.ram
blue-occur-from-indigo
“the blue from the side is bluer”(?)

This seems to be a reference to some dying or pigmenting process involving the color blue, wherein the blue accumulated on the side (of a container?) is a deeper blue than the blue drawn from the main reservoir. The idiomatic meaning, however, refers to the student exceeding the teacher.
“The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.” – Darth Vader, to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

I found this aphorism in my aphorism book.

호랑이 보고 창구멍 막기
ho.rang.i bo.go chang.gu.meong mak.gi
tiger see-CONJ window-hole block-GER
[Like] blocking the hole in the window after seeing the tiger.

The “hole in the window” refers to the old-style paper windows, which are translucent but not transparent. People would poke holes in them, to be able to look out. So the tiger is right there – you see him through the hole in the window. To be safe, you block the hole. Good plan.
Basically, this might be the same as the American proverb “A day late, a dollar short.” A moment when it’s too late to solve some problem or prepare for some dangerous contingency.
[daily log: walking, 3km]

I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.

나무 잘 오르는 놈 떨어지고 헤엄 잘 치는 놈 빠져 죽는다
na.mu jal o.reu.neun nom tteol.eo.ji.go he.eom jal chi.neun nom ppa.jyeo juk.neun.da
tree well climb-PRESPART guy fall-CONJ swimming well swim-PRESPART guy drown-INF die-PRES
The good tree-climber falls and the good swimmer drowns and dies.

I think actually this has the same meaning as that quote I offered by Randall Munroe a few posts back; essentially, even experts can make mistakes.
Perhaps this offers some solace to those of us who make mistakes – we might nevertheless be experts.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

I found this aphorism in my book of aphorisms.

성인도 시속을 따른다
seong.in.do si.sok.eul tta.reun.da
saint-TOO local-mores-OBJ follow-PRES
Even a saint follows the local mores.

I think this means “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” But it might also refer to the fact that even the most high-minded person will succumb to a poor ethical environment. Maybe this could explain the more disappointing aspects of the Obama administration.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

I saw this four-character aphorism in my building’s elevator’s advertising video thingy two different times. It must be important.
雷聲大名
뇌성대명
noe.seong.dae.myeong
thunder-sound-big-name
I guess this is about reputation and fame, though it’s not clear to me if it has negative, neutral or positive valances. The Korean definitions are: “남의 이름을 높여 이르는 말” (a person’s name spoken of far and wide) and “세상에 널리 드러난 이름” (a name revealed widely in the world). And important person? It’s not clear to me how this is actually used.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

I tried to learn this four-character idiom from my building’s elevator the other day.

溫柔敦厚
온유돈후
on.yu.don.hu
gentleness+showing-respect

I guess this just means showing respect. Frankly, I found the definitions I found of this idiom to make the whole thing seem much more complicated, but perhaps I’m over-analyzing. The online hanja dictionary at daum.net gives: “괴이하거나 익살스럽거나 노골적이지 아니하고 독실한 정취가 있는 경향” which I make a rough effort to translate as: “Neither bizarre antics nor clowning around [interfere with?] a tendency toward an unblunt and sincere atmosphere.” I also found: “성격이 온화하고 부드러우며 인정이 두터움” which might be “personality is mild and smooth, acknowledge cordiality.”
I notice in both definitions a more contrastive as opposed complementary relation between the two components of the hanja (first two hanja are one component, second two are second component). I have no idea how that ends up working. But I get the general idea, maybe.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

I learned this four character aphorism on my building’s elevator last night.

強固無比
강고무비
gang.go.mu.bi
strong-firm-no-compare
“Incomparable strength and steadiness.”

It can be made into a descriptive verb, too: 강고무비하다. The underlying meaning of this 고사성어 seemed more transparent than most – the dictionary definition given for the aphorism is simply: 비교할 수 없이 굳세고 단단함 (Incomparable firmness and strength).
 
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

I found this aphorism in my aphorism book.

목마른 송아지 우물 들여다 보듯
mok.ma.reun song.a.ji u.mul deul.yeo.da.bo.deut
thirsty-PPART calf well lookinto-LIKE
[It is] like a calf looking into a well.

The book says this means something like “sour grapes.” I could see that – seeing something that he can’t get, perhaps the calf is annoyed.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]
 

This is a Korean idiom I ran across recently.

여유있는 태도를 잃어서는 안 된다
yeoyuitneun taedoreul ilheoseoneun an doenda
relax-have-PRESENTPARTICIPLE attitude-OBJ lose-MUSTNOTDO
One shouldn’t lose one’s relaxed attitude.

That complicated ending (-서는 안 된다) was hard for me to figure out. It seems to be some kind of fixed idiom that can’t quite be got at by its parts. I was about to give up, but then I got lucky and managed to google a grammatical explanation here.
So the lesson is, don’t lose your relaxed attitude when you can’t figure out some bit of Korean grammar. Google will save you.
[daily log: walking, 7km]

I ran across this four-character idiom somewhere – exactly where, I don’t recall but it’s in my notes.

事事件件
사사건건
sa.sa.geon.geon
work-work-thing-thing

This means “each and every,” but with negative valences.
Usage:

사사건건 트집 = finding fault, blemish, crack
사사건건 간섭하다 = meddling, interference

[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
 

I saw this four-character idiom in my building’s elevator the other day. It was really hard to figure out a meaning for it – my online search and linguistic skills are either declining or this was an exceptionally difficult and rare one.

文過飾非
문과식비
mun.gwa.sik.bi

Breaking down the individual hanja:

文 문 = 글월 letter, writing, sentence
過 과 = 지날 fut-part pass, elapse, spend [time]
飾 식 = 꾸밀 fut-part ornament, fabricate, affect, make, embellish
非 비 = 아닐 fut-part not be

Maybe literally, then, something like “[despite time] spent writing, [there is] no embellished effect” (?).
I searched a lot for a translation, and found nothing. I was having too much difficulty translating the one Korean definition I found. I tried a trick that sometimes works for these four-character idioms: you can put the idiom into googletranslate as Chinese instead of Korean. In this case, the meaning seems clear: “to pay lip service to.” I am not certain that the Korean usage of the idiom retains exactly the same meaning, but the Korean meaning given at naver’s dictionary is:

허물도 꾸미고 잘못도 꾸민다는 뜻으로, 　잘못이 있음에도 불구(不拘)하고 뉘우침도 없이 숨길 뿐 아니라 도리어 외면하고 도리어 잘난 체함

It was taking me too long to try to figure out an idiomatic translation for this definition, but the gist seems to be in vein of “it is a mistake to try to hide ideas through embellishment, etc.” I’m not really confident, but it seems to semantically connect enough to the direct translation of the Chinese as to make me think that meaning applies to the Korean usage as well.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

I learned this four-character idiom from my elevator.

太古順民
태고순민
tae.go.sun.min
ancient-times-gentle-people
“In the old days people [were] gentle.”

I’m not sure the expression is that useful, at least for me – unless there’s an element of irony or some historical reference that makes it more complex than it seems.
It seems to encapsulate the extremely common misconception people tend to have, that times are always getting worse, and that civilization is in a state of decline. Why people believe this seems to be a fundamental quirk of human psychology, which perceives current problems as being more severe than past problems, and which then extends this misperception to the scope of human history. It doesn’t even matter how old you are. I have heard 3rd grade elementary kids heave heavy sighs and say things to the effect of, “it was so much better in the old times [meaning 2nd grade].”
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

I learned this four-character idiom from my building’s elevator last night. I might learn more idioms if I took the elevator more often. But I would get less exercise. And there are other places to find four-character idioms.

求之不得
구지부득
gu.ji.bu.deuk
seek-go-not-get

This was hard to figure out the meaning. I’m not totally confident. There is no entry for the idiom in the Korean-English online dictionary, but the Korean-only dictionary gives (for the verbalized form, 구지부득하다): “구하려고 해도 얻지 못 하다,” which the googletranslate renders “Even trying to save is not obtained.” That’s not that helpful on seeing the meaning. I had better luck googling it as if it were Chinese. In an online Chinese-English dictionary, I found it is an idiom meaning “to be exactly what one has been looking for.” I could kind of see that, but it’s not clear to me that the Korean usage has the same meaning, or if the Korean usage is more negative, which would be more simply, to try to find but fail to find something.
In which case, I tried to find the exact meaning of this idiom, but failed.
[daily log: walking, 6km]

I learned this four-character aphorism from my friend Seungbae on Saturday.

桑田碧海
상전벽해
sang.jeon.byeok.hae
silkworm-orchard-blue-sea
“[Like a] silkworm orchard [becoming] blue sea”

This indicates a situation of intense, complete change – as if a silkworm orchard is tranformed into blue sea. It came up in the context of discussing the fact that, because I was stationed near to my current home when I was in the US Army in 1991, I had seen Ilsan back when it was a small village amid rice fields, and now it has become a high-density connurbation of half a million. Seungbae used this phrase to describe that kind of transformation.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

This is an idiom from my book of idioms.

머리를 깎다
meo.ri.reul kkakk.da
head-OBJ shave
“to shave one’s head.”

It means to join the Buddhist priesthood – since priests shave their heads. It is used as a kind of “when all else fails…” option, to express despair, maybe: e.g. “Well, when all else fails, I can always go join a monastery.”
This thought has a more than passing appeal for me – I have harbored it many times, long before learning the idiom.
[daily log: walking, 6km]

I learned this four-character idiom from my elevator last night.

能小能大
능소능대
neung.so.neung.dae
skill-small-skill-big

This apparently means something like “versitile” or “skillful” or even “tactful and socially competent.” At first I was thinking it was something like “Jack of all trades” but I don’t think that’s quite right – it seems to be used mostly adjectivally, and the meaning seems more connected to the idea of someone who has competence in “big things” but also pays attention to detail. Maybe it’s more like “well-rounded” (as applied to a personality).
I felt pleased with my decipherment of this idiom, for two reasons. First, like many of these “either/or” idioms (where one of the elements is repeated with two different modifiers), the first and second terms seem interchangeable. Thus, the version I actually saw in my elevator last night was “능대능소” yet the one in the online dictionary was the one I cite above. So I figured it out. Further, this is the first case where I already had some clue as to the meaning just because I am familiar with all the individual components from other vocabulary. So it felt like a step forward in that respect.
Notes for Korean (finding meaning)

• 방사선 괴사 = radiation necrosis
• 시궁쥐 = rat, literally “sewer mouse”
• 능하다 = to be proficient, to be skillful, to be expert (at something)

[daily log: walking, 6km]