Chris
Having recently returned to Canada after 4 years in Korea, I find myself using Korean variations for English words without realizing it. This form of language is known as “Konglish” (McPhail, 2018), and basically describes words that have been appropriated from English, and repackaged into Korean. Sometimes the words are shortened, distorted or have their meanings completely changed. This would explain the reason that when I go hiking, I cheer on others with a hearty “paiting !”, while simultaneously throwing an energetic fist into the air. “Paiting” being the English derivative of “fighting” or meaning to do battle, but in this case is used as encouragement. It basically means “you can do it!”. In English we can fight a foe, for love, or even an illness but we cannot fight a mountain. So the word has been taken out of context and has even changed a bit since Hangul (the Korean alphabet) cannot compensate for the sound made by our letter “f”.
Continue reading “Deciphering “Konglish””