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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Filed under: Glossary by girlfriday - 88 Comments →

You can learn a lot about Soulmate’s main cast
from the way they chose to address one another

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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Filed under: Glossary by javabeans - 71 Comments →

Was there ever such heartbreaking confusion over the meaning of
the word “oppa” as with these two in Triple?

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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I don’t know if it’s me, but I’m just not hitting it off with finales this time around. [It is SO NOT just you. --javabeans] It’s just, when you think about it…you’ve spent sixteen, or TWENTY friggin episodes in the will-they-or-won’t-they-oh-god-they-won’t-even-get-close, and speak!-please-for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-speak! So it’s not asking for too much to be rewarded at the end with a satisfying conclusion. It’s actually the cardinal rule of episodic storytelling. Otherwise why on earth would we submit ourselves to such torture? (I mean this generally, in terms of enduring all lengthy plots of all dramas.)

I wanted to love this finale. Hell, I even wanted to hate this finale. Either would have been awesome. But it just sort of fell flat, without kicking up the tension, the chemistry, or even the cuteness, which I would have accepted in exchange. Maybe. What makes me extra crazy is that it has a pre-ordained ending in the Cinderella framework—all you’d have to do is turn it on its head, and add a touch of whimsy, and you’re golden. It’s a classic fairytale for a reason. I would have forgiven all your sins for a great finale, but you missed your shot, Show. And for that, I am truly sad. [And I'm pissed. --jb]

CINDERELLA’S SISTER Episode 20 >>

Filed under: Drama Recaps by girlfriday - 156 Comments →

Except for a few minutes’ worth, most of the scenes in this episode are obscured by an election ticker running across the bottom. I considered cropping it out of the frames, but that looks just as odd, so we’ll just have to put up with it.

This may just be the light at the end of the tunnel speaking, but Episode 19 was a big old relief to me. Some of the conflict resolutions felt anticlimactic after all the many hours of hard-core angsty build-up, but I’m beyond the point of caring about that and am just glad that things are speeding to a close. Well, maybe “speeding” is the wrong word, but at least we’ve resumed moving from that standstill — quicksand, even — of the middle stretch.

SONG OF THE DAY

Cinderella’s Sister OST – “나무” (Tree) by Alex [ Download ]

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CINDERELLA’S SISTER Episode 19 >>

Filed under: Drama Recaps by javabeans - 81 Comments →