While Eun-jo never called Ki-hoon “oppa,” she certainly used her share of banmal with him

One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about the Korean language is the magnitude of what people call each other, and how they address one another as relationships evolve. As javabeans noted, in romantic comedies, we often squee equally over kisses as we do over the first time characters use banmal with each other. So what is banmal, and what are the rules? How can banmal be rude in one moment, and romantic in the next? Who gets to use banmal, and why is it meaningful when characters switch from jondae to banmal?

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Read the rest of Glossary: Banmal (1,448 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee Prince, Pasta

Next in the Dramabeans Glossary series is jondaemal, which can be described as “polite speech” or “formal speech.” (Jondae means “honorific,” while mal is the suffix for “speech.”)

Just as oppa and noona are two terms that are closely related, so are jondaemal and its casual counterpart banmal; girlfriday will follow up with the latter term. There will be some necessary overlap in our entries because they’re really two sides of the same coin, but I’ll focus more on the polite side while girlfriday will explain the familiar side.

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Read the rest of Glossary: Jondaemal (1,659 words)

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Post tags: Bad Guy, Cinderella's Sister, My Fair Lady, Soulmate, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry

Go Hyun-jung and Chun Jung-myung in What’s Up, Fox

Today’s Korean word of the day is: Noona. Got a cheeky younger man in your life? Turns out there’s a reason he calls you what he does. Notorious noona-killers Chun Jung-myung and Kim Bum help give us a lesson on the ins and outs of the Korean language, and the pitfalls of dating a noona.

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Read the rest of Glossary: Noona (777 words)

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Post tags: The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, What's Up Fox

Perhaps you’ve seen that Glossary link in the menu to the left, languishing in neglect with nary an update. I decided, what better way to update than to expound upon those familiar kdrama terms and concepts in a Glossary Series? Because while longtime drama lovers may know exactly what a chaebol is, why pojangmachas rule, and why makjangs induce eye-rolls, sometimes we toss around these Korean terms freely without explanation. And we suspect (we being myself and girlfriday, of course!) that some people are left in confusion.

Hence: the Dramabeans (Extended) Glossary. First up in this ongoing series is that ubiquitous, loaded term that we see in practically every drama ever: “Oppa.”

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Read the rest of Glossary: Oppa (1,416 words)

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Post tags: Bad Guy, Cinderella's Sister, Coffee Prince, My Girl, Triple