The effort is totally wasted.

Hi. Too many people has been affected by the recent floods in Australia and the flooding is continuing in Victoria. It is heartbreaking to see. I am lucky not to have any damage. But I am suffering in a spiritual way. The meditation centre that I go went under. Completely. I stopped by the centre yesterday and it was devastating. The walls, inside out, were stripped away for reconstruction. Basically only the frames and the roof were there.ㅠ.ㅠ Including the summer break of the centre, I am out of practice for about a month now. And it is taking its toll. The most noticeable thing is the return of my aggressiveness. :( There was a very reckless driver on a motorway yesterday. He almost gave me an accident. I got angry and heard my ego saying "I am going to see that asshole's face!". Usually my higher self would say something like "The moment has passed. Nobody's hurt. Let it go.". But it was silent yesterday. That means "Go, girl!", right!! I stepped on the gas and started chasing the car. Soon I realized that there was so much anger in me! I was really ashamed of it. Despite all my effort for the last five months, it feels like I am back to square one. :(


The effort is totally wasted.
노력이 말짱 도루묵이 되었어요.


노력이, noryogi, effort + suffix
말짱, maljjang, every bit of it
도루묵이, dorumoogi, name of fish(sandfish) + suffix
되었어요, deotsoyo, has become


노력이 말짱 도루묵이 되었어요.
noryogi maljjang dorumoogi deotsoyo.


말짱 도루묵. I have been using this expression but didn't really know the origin. So I did some googling. :) The story goes, there was a king, 선조 who had to take refuge to another city during a war. There wasn't enough meat to eat even for the king. One day, a fisher man caught 도루묵 and offered it to the king. It was the first time that the king tried this fish and he loved the taste of it. He said he would eat it again when he goes back to the palace. After the war ended and back in the palace, 도루묵 was again served to the king. But despite all the efforts of his people, he didn't like it any more. Their effort was wasted.

Do you have a new year's resolution? It is 말짱 도루묵 if you don't stick to it. Did you have a small dinner to loose weight? It is 말짱 도루묵 if you eat a bowl of ramen at 11 PM. Are you attached to the temporary things? It is 말짱 도루묵 when they disappear. Do you want to be happy by having materials? It is 말짱 도루묵 if you are alone. Do you want the world to be a better place? It is 말짱 도루묵 if you don't chip in. :)

Cheers!

Comments

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