쌩까다
[ssaeng-gga-da]
to feign ignorance; pretend not to understand
Meaning & context
문자 그대로, 쌩 – 바람처럼 윙윙소리를 내고, 휙, 휑 가는 것처럼 그냥 지나가는 것 혹은 까먹다와 같이 그저 무언가를 잊어버린 것을 의미. 이 표현은 다툰 후 누군가를 무시할 때, 혹은 주의를 기울이지 않을 때 사용된다.
Ssang (쌩) is to whistle, zip, or zing, and ggada could be go (가다) as in to go by or whistle by, or as with the phonetic ‘peel-and-eat’ of ggamoekda (까먹다), to just forget it. This expression can be used for ignoring someone after an argument, pretending not to understand someone’s directions that you don’t want to follow, or when someone is just not paying attention.
From As Much as a Rat’s Tail · book pages 154–154. Original published text; historical references and usage are retained.
STORY TIME
See it in conversation
Korean
여름 캠프에서
English
At Summer Camp
한국 아이들은 영어를 못알아들어.
The Korean kids don’t understand English.
아닌데, 알아들어! 왜, 무슨 일 있어?
Yes they do! Why, what happened?
오두막 좀 치우라고 얘기하면 그냥 탁구나 치러 가고. 너 한국말 할 줄 아니까 네가 얘기 좀 해봐.
When I tell them to clean up the cabin, they just go play PingPong. You speak Korean, can you tell them.
오, 걔네 그냥 쌩까는거야. 이거 봐! 창현, 쌩까지말고 지금 당장 오두막 치워!
Oh, they’re just doing ssaengggada. Watch this! “ChangHyun, don’t ssaengggada and clean the cabin now!”
어, 알아, 알겠다고...
Yeah, I know, I know. . .
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