Category: 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

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I’m not sure the expression is that useful, at least for me – unless there’s an element of irony or some historical reference that makes it more complex than it seems.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]

I found this idiom in my Korean idiom book.

뒤로 호박씨 까다
dwi.ro ho.bak.ssi kka.da
behind-MEANS pumpkin-seed crack
Crack pumpkin seeds with your behind.

I thought this was an interesting idea, because in figuring it out, I learned that the Korean word 뒤, which means “behind,” can also mean “behind” in the English idiomatic sense of ass. Thus this is, “to crack pumpkin seeds with your ass.”
What it means, apparently, is to appear innocent but to be carrying out nefarious deeds in secret. I guess to the extent that cracking pumpkin seeds with one’s ass is nefarious, that makes sense, as it would be hard to tell just looking at someone that they were doing that.
[daily log: walking, 6km]