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]