Badass Korean — As Much as a Rat’s Tail

꼽살리다

[ggob-sal-li-da]

to bug, bother, irritate or annoy; get under one’s skin

The Flashcard

The original illustrated card, front and back.

Being Bad in Korea card back꼽살리다 — to bug, bother, irritate or annoy; get under one’s skin

Meaning & context

미구 [mi-gu] a nickname coined by SiWoo that stands for

mi-chin (crazy) gu-raet-na-ru (sideburns).

문자 그대로는 ‘겁이나게 하다, 겁이나게 만들다. ’는 의미로서 이는 주로 특정 인물을 심 하게 놀리는 행위를 일컫는 말이다. 보통 친한 친구들사이에서 사용된다.

Literally, to revive someone or make them live, sal-li-da (살리다) is combined with ggob (꼽) suggesting that the subject is brought back to life through fear. This is most often used between close friends to tease each other or “get under their skin.”

From As Much as a Rat’s Tail · book pages 52–53. Original published text; historical references and usage are retained.

STORY TIME

See it in conversation

Korean

엘비스는 살아있다

English

Elvis Lives

WonDong

미구! 이 미친 구렛나루야. 구렛나루 좀 짤러라.

원동

Migu! Look at your crazy sideburns. Trim those things up.

TaeYong

그만 좀 꼽살려. 불쌍해. 미구 표정좀 봐. 조금 더 하면 울 것 같애.

태용

Quit ggopsal~ing him. Look at Migu’s expression. Do it any more and he’ll cry!

DongWon

됐어. 이제 저자식이 꼽살리는거 적응됐어.

동원

That’s enough. I’m used to that SOB’s ggopsal.

From the book: notes & culture

The Straight Scoop

The Annoyingly

Nasal Niun

From right to left,

it angles tongue up, the tip thrust high

for words bereft of voice,

letting the nasal n linger, oh my

Incessantly on in a never-ending whinny

느느느느느 (ne ne ne ne ne)

The undeniably annoying niun ㄴ ninny

As Much as a Rat’s Tail

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