Badass Korean — As Much as a Rat’s Tail

까리하다

[gga-ri-ha-da]

to look cool, pimped, pimpin’

Meaning & context

옷빨이야 [eot-bbal-i-ya] literally, only his clothes. This implies that though his

style is great, his other attributes are lacking – in other words, he’s fugly.

멋있는 사람을 보고하는 말. 길거리를 떠도는 사람을 속되게 일컫던 말‘까리’라는 말에서 지금의 긍정적인 의미로 변화된 것으로 보인다. 반의어: 추하다와 구리다가 합쳐진 추리하다가 있다.

Literally meaning street-walker, scoundrel or vagrant, ggarihada has come to mean stylish or meoshita (멋있다) in Korean similar to the changes in the meaning of “bad” or “pimped” in English. Antonym: 추리하다 [chu-ri-ha-da] looks bad or homely, from chuhada (추하다) mixed with gurida (구리다)

From As Much as a Rat’s Tail · book pages 29–29. Original published text; historical references and usage are retained.

STORY TIME

See it in conversation

Korean

옷 사냥꾼들

English

Clothes Hunters

PaJeon

저사람 봐! 진짜 까리하다.

파전

Oh, look at that guy! He’s really ggarihada.

YuJa

다 옷빨이야. 그거 빼고는 추리해. 자기가 훨씬 멋져.

유자

Only his clothes, other than that he’s churihae. You look much better, honey.

PaJeon

고맙다 내사랑.

파전

Thanks my love.

YuJa

이제, 너한텐 저 사람 옷만 있으면 돼... 저놈 잡으러 가자!

유자

Now, you just need his clothes . . . let’s get him!

From the book: notes & culture

The Straight Scoop

As Much as a Rat’s Tail

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