WHAT’S IN A NAME?

They’ve held hands, hugged, and, yes, they’ve even kissed TWICE, yet he still calls her ‘President Cha.’ Really?

I’m watching Encounter with the serene Song Hye-kyo and the enchanting Park Bo-gum (Bogummy to his most ardent fans.) He’s the peon and she’s the wealthy hotel owner, and he doesn’t hold back pursuing her. Considering his lowly status, his ego and self worth are intact, and he wastes no time in letting her know what he wants. It’s HER (spoiler alert: they get each other!).

Son Hye-ko and Park Bo-gum from Encounter. If you don't find him gorgeous you probably need glasses.

For Kdramas, it’s a long, winding road from ‘President Cha’ to honey. Only long time married couples call each other ‘honey,’ and this is quintessentially Korean. They are into honorifics and almost never deviate from them.

My favorite one for friends is ‘Oppa’. I don’t think we have an English counterpart for it. Closest would be ‘buddy,’ but I would never call a woman friend that. No worries, though. When Judy weighs in, I’m sure she will set me straight if I’m wrong. ~ Pat

Judy: I've been wanting to talk about this for a while. To our casual readers we want you to understand that this is a truly remarkable and noticeable characteristic of Korean culture. Their language has levels of formality and English does not. Sounds simple but it's really, truly important. When strangers meet in Korea they frequently ask ages of one another. That's done so they can properly align their speech. It would be considered rude and inappropriate to use the wrong word for someone who is older, as an example. Koreans are meticulous about following these rules! I'll mention that it's not just individual words but rather but the entire sentence structure can change. The closest in English that I can come up with is the use of brief, incomplete sentences versus proper English sentences. For example: "Yeah, let's go" - instead of - "Yes, Let's go to the movie together." Koreans might use the former for good friends and peers but would never use that to elders or people in authority.

With subtitles it's actually hard to pick up on this nuance unless the actors comment on it... and they sometimes do! They'll say something like 'why did you lower your speech' or 'can we talk casually' or 'I'm uncomfortable using those words.' (That's what Pat is pointing out in her commentary... the younger man has difficulty calling the older woman -and his love interest- a casual name.) Once the couple gets to a certain level in their relationship they actually might discuss what they will call each other. It can be endearments such as Honey or My Person (my personal favorite,) or affectionate nicknames....but they seem to talk about it in advance.

As for Pat's favorite, Oppa and its female conterpart, Noona, they hold a special place. Technically Oppa means older brother and Noona means older sister. But the meaning has morphed a bit so that Oppa is often used to imply boyfriend or cute older buy.... and Noona the same in reverse. There's a cute video clip that depicts one of the BTS Band members being called Oppa at about 17 year old and his eyes growing wide with astonishment as he didn't consider himself 'oppa' material at the time.

I'd like to blame these nuances on why I'm having difficulty learning Korean. But, alas, that would be an exaggeration. As a senior in the language class most everyone should be using 'polite' or 'more formal' words with me whereas I can just sling 'Hey You's' about with abandon. I've given myself permission not to worry about levels of speech but rather just try to be able to vaguely understand what we're talking about! I'm guessing since I'm older than all the teachers they're hesitant to correct me when I use the wrong words! See? There are advantages to being old!