Even a ghost looks better on a full stomach.

Hi. I am not sure if you heard about what I would label as "Chickengate". Basically, a big shopping chain in Korea decided to sell fried chicken at a fraction of the market price. A lot of small franchises got angry as this disrupted their business significantly. That company had to close the sale of cheap chicken after nine days. I am sure those people who were willing to stand in a queue for hours to eat cheap chicken are very disappointed. This obsessiveness over food reminded me of this proverb.


Even a ghost looks better on a full stomach.
먹고 죽은 귀신은 때깔도 좋다.


먹고, moggo, after eaten
죽은, jugun, dead
귀신은, guisinun, ghost + suffix
때깔도, ddaeggaldo, even skin complexion
좋다, jota, good


먹고 죽은 귀신은 때깔도 좋다.
moggo jugun quisinun ddaeggaldo jota.


If someone is about to die from hunger then sees someone else's food, he would say this and eat even if he gets punished from stealing. He/She dies either way. So, this expression is useful when you want to eat something regardless consequences or when eating is the number one priority.

때깔 usually means beautiful colors of fabrics. I don't think young people use this word very often.

Obviously, this expression was created when we were really poor and when there wasn't enough to eat at all. Which is not the case any more. While watching how Chickengate unfolded, what caught my attention and surprised me was how cheap the raw chickens were. For example, here is the price of chicken in the US. How is this possible? It is simple. The chickens are paying the price by being bred in inhumane condition of factory farms.

You are what you eat. Think about it. :)

Comments

  1. 하사라December 22, 2010 at 3:29 PM

    I was making 양념치킨 at home when I heard about them selling those cheap chickens. Theres no way small business can compete with that, so Im glad they stopped selling them.
    The economy sucks, so cheap stuff is hard to resist, but we need to think about WHY its so cheap…

    ReplyDelete
  2. MinDecember 22, 2010 at 10:52 PM

    Hi Sarah,
    Yes, we really need to think about it. Once I heard someone saying that meat is actually the cheapest option to eat these days. That didn't sound right to me. :(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Please top up 5000 won on my card.

Hi all. Isn't it daunting to figure out a bus fare, find the right coins or notes and make sure you get the correct changes and so on when you visit a country for the first time? I hereby declare that it is a thing in the past! :) We have something called T-money which you can use on bus, taxi and subway in Seoul and some other cities. You can even use it at a convenient store to pay for the goods. Most convenient stores sell T-money cards and you can top up T-money from there too. So use this when you visit Seoul if you don't want to come back with a bag full of coins. :) Please top up 5000 won on my T-money card. 티머니 카드에 오천원 충전해 주세요. 티머니, T-money, T-money 카드에, cardae, card + suffix 오천원, ohchunwon, 5000 + won 충전해, chungjonhae, recharge (충전하다) 주세요, jusaeyo, give me (주다) 티머니 카드에 오천원 충전해 주세요. T-money cardae ohchunwon chungjonhae jusaeyo. The won is the Korean currency. Thanks to the inflation over the past half-century, the numbers are quite big compared to their value. Your ch
Read more

From which exit should we meet?

Hi guys. Let's say, you have arrived at your subway station safely. That's great! But it is too soon to be relieved. You have accomplished only a half of the challenge and the second half is finding the right exit. :) You will see what I mean if you take a look at this map . It is where the city hall is and shows how many subway stations multiplied by the number of exits are concentrated in a small area. So, include the right exit number to your planning before you travel. A subway exit is great for a meeting spot so this expression might be helpful. :) From which exit should we meet? 몇번 출구에서 만날까요? 몇번, myotbun, which number 출구에서, chulgooaeso, exit + suffix 만날까요, mannalggayo, should we meet? (만나다) 몇번 출구에서 만날까요? myotbun chulgooaeso mannalggayo? 몇 means 'some unknown number' and 번 is a count word. There are different ways of counting in Korean as describe here . In short, '일, 이, 삼..' style is used for things in order while '하나, 둘, 셋..' style is for counting
Read more

And then, and then

I have a couple of international colleagues at work. They are quite eager to learn Korean so I teach or correct them whenever I have a chance. Yesterday, we were going to have coffee after lunch and one guy said, "밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요" It is totally correct. But we can also say, "밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요". Let's have coffee after lunch. 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. 밥, 식사, meal ~고 나서, after something ~은/는 다음에, after something 마시다, drink 마셔요, let's drink 밥 먹고 나서 커피 마셔요. bab mokgo naso kopi mashoyo. 밥 먹은 다음에 커피 마셔요. bab mokun daumae kopi mashoyo. 식사하고 나서 커피 마셔요. siksahago naso kopi mashoyo. 식사한 다음에 커피 마셔요. siksahan daumae kopi mashoyo. One of the hardest things of learning any language is the fact that there are usually more than one way of saying the same thing. But knowing different expressions for the same meaning will make your speaking more rich! Hope you don't give up!! :-)
Read more