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 →

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.

Filed under: Glossary by girlfriday - 94 Comments →

New toy! I’ve been wanting to try a podcast for ages, but lacked the technical wherewithal (and time) to fiddle around with it till now. But I’ve brushed up my techie skills and persuaded girlfriday to join me in this venture, and together we took a stab at our very first Dramabeans podcast.

I apologize in advance for moments when I get too close to the mic — I don’t think it’s TOO bad, or at least I hope it’s not, but I will definitely keep this in mind if/when we try the next one. Also, if you’ve got questions or suggestions for future editions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

You can listen through the player below, or if you’d like to put it on your mp3 players or take it elsewhere, you can download the sucker: [ Part 1 ] and [ Part 2 ]

We hope you enjoy what we have to say!

 
Part 1: Wherein javabeans and girlfriday discuss old-school dramas, Feelings, Lee Jung-jae, recapping, cliches and tropes, the dreaded wrist-grab, women and repressed sexuality, Pasta, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, Kim Bum, Boys Before Flowers, relationships, and Personal Taste:

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(Note: It may take a moment to load. You can adjust volume up and down with the bars on the left of the audio player.)

Part 2: Wherein javabeans and girlfriday discuss Personal Taste and Cinderella’s Sister (through Episode 12, although with very few if any spoilers for later episodes), and Sandglass very briefly:

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List of songs used in podcast >>

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Before we get into the final recap, I want to give a hearty thanks to girlfriday for recapping this drama with me. I’ve never shared recaps for a series before, and I found it even more fun than I thought it would be, and also a learning experience (to see what she picked out that I didn’t, for instance). Fear not, this is not her last recap, though I won’t yet announce for sure what comes next.

Since this is the finale, this recap contains comments from both me and girlfriday; you’ll find hers in blue, for ease of distinguishing between us.

SONG OF THE DAY

The Woman Who Still Wants To Marry OST – “사랑을 열다” (Opening love)
[ Download ]

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THE WOMAN WHO STILL WANTS TO MARRY Episode 16 >>

Filed under: Drama Recaps by javabeans - 86 Comments →

Meltdown! Hey, if my 24-year old boyfriend were hanging out with a popstar who calls him oppa, I’d be gnashing my teeth on raw pasta too. Or making a voodoo effigy. To each her own. There’s trouble in paradise this week, as we close in on the finale, and all our couples are put through the proverbial wringer.

THE WOMAN WHO STILL WANTS TO MARRY Episode 15 >>

Filed under: Drama Recaps by girlfriday - 58 Comments →