Internet slang

Shorthand for "Ilbe" (Ilgan Best Jeojangso, a far-right forum).

From a 2000 MBC adult sitcom (Three Friends), where actor Yoon Da-hoon would say "jageop deureoganda" ("time to make my move") whenever he pursued a woman he liked. The word "jageop" (lit. "work/operation") caught on nationally as slang for a man actively trying to woo a woman.

Originally from a polite gamer sign-off ("enjoy the game"), it got shortened over time and repurposed to mean "forget it" or "get lost" — often used to shut down an absurd item-trade offer or dismiss someone outright.

It is used to mean the best of the best by adding the Chinese character 'Wang' (王) to the English word 'King' and adding 'Jjang' (meaning best). It was discovered during the 'Finding Idiot IDs' event on the DC Inside World of Warcraft (WOW) Gallery and was soon selected by the gallery members as the 'most powerful ID'.

Originally short for "you won't get a girlfriend" (an-saenggyeoyo). On the far-right forum Ilbe, it took on a mocking tone, sometimes paired with a faux-dialect phrase implying "things weren't like this in the old days."

"Beat her once every three days" (shortened) — a misogynistic phrase, mainly used on the far-right forum Ilbe.

A character-personality trope common in anime and bishoujo games — someone with an obsessive, unhealthy attachment to one person. Blends the Japanese words for "sick/ill" (yamu) and "bashful/lovestruck" (dere).

"For real?" — coined on DC Inside's overseas-soccer gallery. Because the "Real" in Real Madrid happens to be spelled the same as the English word "real," it caught on with that meaning.

"Clean domestic-baseball gallery," shortened — DC Inside's baseball board, styled as the "clean" version.

"The X-family bastard" (shortened) — attaches a surname to insult a notorious or infamous person who shares it, commonly used on gaming/politics-adjacent forums to refer to specific public figures by surname alone.

Originally a Japanese word for "the real thing," but in Korean subculture communities it's used for someone who causes real harm or trouble to others.

A famous line said by the character Kizaru in One Piece, popularized in Korea by YouTuber/streamer Bo Gyeom.

From the American idiom for a green traffic signal meaning "go ahead/permission granted." Caught on in Korean online communities specifically for signaling romantic interest or receptiveness between two people.

A greeting coined by popular Korean YouTuber Bo Gyeom, blending his name with "hi-ru" (hello). Often abbreviated online to its consonants, "ㅂㅇㄹ."

Borrowed from Japanese. Usually describes a fictional hero with extraordinary powers, distinct from "yongsa" (a soldier honored for real accomplishments). In Korean internet use, it can also mean someone who does something reckless that most people wouldn't dare.

A variant of "-galleo" (a gallery/board regular on DC Inside).

A slur for overweight people, supposedly from the labored "pao-hu, kumcheok-kumcheok" breathing sound an overweight person makes — originally the sound one particular mukbang streamer made while eating.

"The mood suddenly went 'ddiyong'" (a comic sound effect), shortened — a term coined by a well-known Korean streamer (BJ Bogyeom).

A Japanese-accented pronunciation of the word "sex," used on forums where the direct word is banned or where saying it plainly feels too blunt.

The English word "newbie," spelled out in Korean. A user who's new to an online game or community.

Deliberately acting out of step with an online community's mood, or trying to stir up division within it.

"Clean DC" — before the far-right forum Ilbe existed, DC Inside itself was criticized for its members' extreme behavior. Once the even-more-extreme Ilbe appeared, DC Inside's image improved by comparison, and its users started claiming the moral high ground over Ilbe and Today's Humor users with comments like "unlike those Ilbe/Oyu jerks, nothing like that happens on our clean DC" — sometimes sincerely, sometimes as a way to stir up trouble on other sites or whitewash DC's own reputation.

A mock-flattering nickname for DC Inside's operator, Kim Yu-sik — sometimes stylized further as a deliberately garbled version of his name.

"Blocking the path," shortened. Rose to popularity through the racing game KartRider in the mid-2000s — deliberately obstructing another racer during a match.

"Lightning meetup" (shortened) — from PC-communication chat culture, an impromptu real-life meetup arranged after getting friendly in a chatroom. Sometimes shortened further to "beongae" or "beonggae."

"Attention disease" — likens the habit of posting for attention on social media to a sickness. Someone with it is an "attention-disease patient," or more commonly, "gwanjong" (attention seeker).

It is a neologism that originated during the PC communication era of the 1990s, referring to the act of meeting in person following an impromptu suggestion after meeting through chat.

Literally ground bait used in real fishing; used online as "bait" content — a post, rumor or clue designed to keep a community talking and speculating.

From the domestic-baseball gallery — derived from "average hit rate" in baseball. Means "about average, nothing special." Related terms exist for above-average (ㅅㅌㅊ) and below-average (ㅎㅌㅊ).

Started on MLB Park as a nickname for baseball player Lee Jong-beom, meaning he played so well he was almost invisible — like a phantom. Later picked up heavily by the domestic-baseball gallery on DC Inside and by Ilbe.

A nickname mocking Daegu by comparing it to the crime-ridden Gotham City from Batman — a regional-mockery meme that spread from DC Inside in the mid-2000s.

"Leveling up hard/diligently," shortened — grinding a character's level in an online game.

A typo of "dojeok" (thief) from the game Baram-ui Nara. Used for the rogue/thief class in games, and for someone who takes other people's posts or art without permission.

A scrambled spelling of "jebal" (please), used jokingly with the same meaning.

"PC bang" (internet cafe / gaming cafe), shortened.

"Chat ban," shortened — being blocked from chatting. Unrelated to the identically-spelled word for "debt."

"Internet lecture" / "video lecture," shortened — an online class or streamed lecture.

"Permanent ban," shortened — an account permanently suspended from an online game or website for breaking the rules. Unrelated to the identical-sounding word for a memorial portrait. Also seen as "yeongban," "yeongbeul," "yeongchu" (all meaning permanent ban/block/expulsion).

Short for "DC Inside," a major Korean online forum.

"Prim and aloof." A character-personality trope in Japanese manga, anime and bishoujo games. Blends the Japanese for a standoffish, curt demeanor ("tsuntsun") with "bashful/lovestruck" ("dere").

Short for "neomuna" (so very/really) — a phrasing that started on Twitter's character limit and spread across beauty content and the wider internet.

"Today's workout" — a hashtag/caption used when sharing your exercise routine on social media.

From a 2009 MBC sitcom (High Kick Through the Roof!): a flatulent grandfather kept farting around his young granddaughter, who — just learning to talk — started calling him "bbang-kku-ddong-kku" ("fart-butt") and later used it for anyone she disliked. The phrase went viral nationally and even made a news anchor break into laughter on air, despite a media-standards warning that it was crude. "Bbang-kku" means fart, "ddong-kku" means anus.

An abbreviation of 'photo to prevent cropping.' It refers to simple, bizarre photos created to attract attention and prevent humor posts from being buried on back pages when uploaded to a bulletin board. The term originated on DC Inside.

An exclamation of frustration or displeasure, from a lyric ("break") in a song by Moon Hee-jun, leader of the first-generation idol group H.O.T.

"Deleted at the speed of light," shortened — quickly deleting a post or comment.

Used to mean "fabrication/rigging." Traces to pro gamer Ma Jae-yoon, notorious for a match-fixing scandal — when viewers kept typing "jojak" (rigged) in his stream chat, he banned the word, so viewers switched to the similar-sounding "jujak," which stuck.

An insult for someone who is genuinely terrible at playing a game. Originated on DC Inside's StarCraft gallery, where a user said someone playing badly in a team match must be controlling with their feet — combining "foot" (bal) with "control." Someone especially bad is a "gae-balkeon." Not used insultingly in sports or games like DDR where feet are actually the point.

Proving something personal actually happened — e.g. posting a photo of a new purchase on social media as proof. A photo taken for this is called an "authentication shot."

It is a derogatory term for thoughtless elementary school students active on the internet. Depending on the context, it can also refer to all elementary school students.

"The top dog" in a given field, similar in meaning to "jonggyeoljja" (the finisher). Traces to a photo of a KIA Tigers fan holding a sign that misspelled the character for "god" (神) as a similar-looking character (申), which someone else then further misread as yet another similar character, 甲 (meaning "first/superior"), giving rise to this usage.

"Exiting a gallery," shortened — coined on DC Inside, originally for simply not using a board anymore, later extended to quitting a specific activity or something disappearing from it. Similar to "logging out"; the opposite is "ipgael" (joining/entering a gallery).

"Leaving a gallery (forum board) for good," shortened — used when someone quits a particular DC Inside community or a particular activity disappears from it. Carries a stronger sense of finality than the related term "toegael."

"Ilbe is our shield" (shortened) — the idea that because the far-right forum Ilbe behaves so badly, DC Inside looks comparatively better by contrast, so Ilbe unintentionally "shields" DC Inside from criticism.

"Don't feed the idiots" (shortened) — telling people to ignore someone who's derailing a forum's mood or causing a scene.

A Koreanized rendering of "aggravation/aggro" — deliberately provoking conflict or demanding attention. In RPGs, "aggro" is when an AI monster locks onto and chases a specific player. Online, it describes stirring up drama to get attention, phrased as "pulling aggro" ("eogeuro-reul kkeunda"); "wide-area" is sometimes added as a prefix for an especially intense version.

"Anti-page-2 image," shortened — a quirky or eye-catching picture posted with a forum thread specifically to grab attention and keep the post from getting buried unnoticed. Coined on DC Inside.

"Forum user," shortened (from "게시판" + a suffix) — not related to the English word it happens to resemble.

A play on "MLB Park," a baseball community site with a large KIA Tigers fanbase, blended with a slur ("hongeo," a fermented skate dish) used to belittle the Jeolla region.

A mocking exclamation targeting gay men — twists "eomeona" (oh my) into "homona" (homo) and "ige" (this) into "gay," typically dropped in comments when two men show an ambiguous spark.

Literally "diving underwater" — used for suddenly going silent and disappearing from a chat or conversation, as if submerging. Traces back to old PC-communication chatrooms. Usually phrased as "going quiet" (jamsu-reul tanda) — similar to the English "AFK."

From English "shield." Used when someone defends a person or group being criticized on a forum, deflecting the attacks — commonly as the verb phrase "shield-chida" (to put up a shield).

Started when a DC Inside user posted a comic about people in Busan mixing completely mismatched foods together, quoting a Busan dialect line, "Just mix it and eat!" ("Ma! Sseuka mugeura!"). The comic went viral, and afterward "seuka" came to mean mixing incompatible foods, with "Seuka-guk" ("Mix Country") used as a derogatory nickname for Busan. The term spread from DC Inside to many other Korean communities.

Means "nice to meet you" — a chat greeting that dates back to 1990s PC-communication culture, now rarely used.

From "vandalism" — deliberately and repeatedly damaging or deleting entries on sites like Wikipedia or Namu Wiki. Wikipedia explicitly prohibits it.

A term coined by a well-known YouTuber (Beobe) — used to mean "hello."

"Individual chat/DM" on messaging apps like KakaoTalk — similar to a direct message.

Likely a blend of English "Go" with the sound "sshing," meant to evoke moving fast. An alternate theory ties it to a specific internet personality's nickname. The community where it first spread makes the personality-based origin the more credible one.

An onomatopoeia, popular with beauty YouTubers, for the sound of a base product or foundation blending smoothly into skin — "pat-pat."

A "haul" video — a creator showing off and reviewing things they just bought. A staple format among beauty YouTubers worldwide.

"Eat and run" — taking something (money, an item, credit) and vanishing without honoring the deal; commonly used for scams or stealing another player's in-game item.

Used online to describe another user as being ridiculously, excessively worked up over something — playing on a crude double meaning.

The most common anonymous placeholder nickname on DC Inside.

"Sightseeing" — used to mean winning a match or contest by an overwhelming margin. Traces to DC Inside's StarCraft gallery: English-speaking gaming communities used a term for a lopsided loss with a violent connotation, and Korean users adapted a similar-sounding but unrelated word ("sightseeing") to sidestep that connotation while keeping the same meaning. The opposite (an unexpected comeback rout) is "reverse sightseeing."

A typo of the polite ending "-seumnida" (fingers tangling while typing), now used on purpose for a playful tone — e.g. "jal badasseubinda" (got it, thanks).

"Keyboard battle," shortened — an online argument, sometimes escalating to whataboutism, personal attacks, threats, or doxxing.

"Free-board user," shortened — swapping in the name of whichever forum's board this refers to is common with this pattern.

"Ilgan Best" (Ilbe), shortened — a far-right Korean internet forum.

An exclamation of shock, meaning the same as "heok." There's an old Chinese character read the same way that means "flee in surprise," but most people now just treat "heol" as a piece of internet slang.

A derogatory term for users of the far-right forum Ilgan Best (Ilbe).

Rooted in Japanese, popularized as a coined phrase by Korean YouTuber/streamer BJ Bo Gyeom.

From "thread" on old forums — telling a personal story or anecdote. The verb phrase "sseol pulda" means to share your own story/experience.

"Chatting with your eyes" (shortened) — coined in old PC-communication chatrooms for reading along without ever posting. Also used for browsing a forum without leaving any trace — no likes, no replies.

"Like, comment, subscribe, and turn on notifications" — the standard YouTuber sign-off, shortened to one word.

It is a term referring to the best person, thing, or phenomenon in a certain field, and has a meaning similar to that of a ‘terminator.’ It originated from a photo of a KIA Tigers fan holding a sign with the letter ‘Shin’ misspelled as ‘Gap’, which someone misread as the similar-looking ‘Gap’ and left a comment.

When an online argument escalates into meeting up and fighting in person — blends "reality" with "PK" (player kill).

In online games, if you don't claim an item you earned within a set time, other players become eligible to grab it instead. When someone else takes it, that's called a "steal."

Internet-forum jargon whose exact meaning isn't preserved in the source material — treat as an obscure community-specific term pending a clearer source.

Short for "Twitter is a waste of life," a line attributed to football manager Alex Ferguson — used when someone gets into trouble over a careless social media post.

"Eyes welling up with moisture," shortened — used for something so funny you could cry, or a genuinely unfortunate situation. Unusually for internet slang, this one is credited to a specific celebrity (Ji Sang-ryul) rather than originating online.

"You see as much as you know" (shortened) — arose among online viewers who argue over and defend pro gamers' plays, based on how much game knowledge they actually have.

A cutesy, softened way of saying "crazy," popularized by a well-known Korean livestreamer (BJ Bogyeom).

From the Harry Potter series' term for non-magical people. Used online to mean an "ordinary, unremarkable" person outside a particular fandom or niche.

A "geupsik-che" (teen internet speech) bit popularized by comedian Kwon Hyuk-soo on SNL Korea — a self-answered "agreed?" used to affirm something, playing on the title of a famous medical text (Donguibogam). Similar to "injeong? eoinjeong" (agreed? — agreed).

Literally means "a great victory," but on DC Inside's domestic-baseball gallery it's flipped to describe a game that goes so badly it draws criticism instead.

"Honey-sweet tip" — a genuinely useful piece of information or advice, often something not widely known. Especially common in online content, sometimes stylized as "honey tip."

Very. It gradually became widely used after Shinhwa's Junjin posted "I completely love you" on his Cyworld mini-homepage.

The main text of this section is Yaminjeongeum. It refers to a collection of slang used in the Domestic Baseball Gallery on DC Inside, which involves replacing the letters of a word with similar-looking characters. There are various theories regarding how it originated. Examples include: King Sejong → Sejongmeoah (Dae ↔ Meo, Wang ↔ Ah), Kim Jang-hoon → Supjjanghoon (Kim → Sup, Jang → Ttyeong), Paldo Bibimyeon → Gwaldo Nenemttin (Pal → Gwal, Bi → Ne, Beam → Nem, Myeon → Ttin), Meongmeongi → Daengdaengi (Meong → Daeng)

It is pronounced as ‘hehe’, ‘kick-kick’, ‘kyakya’, etc., to express laughter.

"Our Ilbe-shield is holding up strong" — said by DC Inside users when Ilbe (or both Ilbe and DC Inside together) does something outrageous, but DC Inside escapes most of the blame because Ilbe's behavior is so much worse.

"Regular chat," shortened — a term from old PC-communication days for a scheduled group chat (compare "jeongmo," a scheduled in-person meetup).

"The mood suddenly went cold," shortened.

Slang for something that looks expensive but is actually low quality for the price. Named after a convenience-store meal series fronted by singer Kim Chang-ryul, whose small portions and poor quality relative to price made "Changryul" a byword for a bad deal. Used as a noun ("Changryul") or adjective ("Changryul-hada").

Repeating the same joke or action past the point it's funny, until it just annoys everyone — as if your brain's circuits had stopped working.

A stupid taste. It was first used in the Serial Cartoon Gallery on DC Inside and means 'absurd'.

A wild, over-the-top joke or bit — coined on DC Inside's comedy gallery, combining "ad-lib" with the derogatory prefix "gae-" (dog/very). Used dismissively when someone says something outlandish or insincere purely to get attention.

Doing it perfectly, neatly, and with style

Weakening. It originated in *Ultima Online* when the stats of a certain sword were downgraded, prompting users to say, "Is this a Nerf sword?" Nerf is an actual toy brand. After this word was coined, the word "buff" was later derived and established itself with the meaning of "improving stats."

It is a malicious comment.

: It came from a friend of Twitch Donation.

An X-shaped box that is displayed as a replacement when an image is displayed on the internet and the original image does not appear or the link is incorrect.

He is someone who acts serious and fails to read the atmosphere.

In internet slang, it is a modified spelling that causes communication difficulties. It is similar to Yaminjeongeum, but while Yaminjeongeum mostly uses Hangul, Alien language mixes various Hiragana, Katakana, and special characters.

A term coined by *Ddanzi Ilbo* in December 2003, referring to a person with a good physique.

The term originated when the wife of South Korean internet broadcaster Woowakgood misread "LEGEND" written in the Minecraft font as "LEGENO," and it has the same meaning as "Legend."

A term derived from the Japanese word *Ieunji*, meaning "mania," modified to resemble a Sino-Korean word. It refers to a person who focuses intensely on a particular field. The term "odeokhu" was first used in the Animation Gallery on DC Inside in 2005. The activities performed by an odeokhu are called *deokjil*.

It is a term created by combining the suffix '-chung' with 'Korean man,' and was first used in August 2015. It began to be used as a form of 'mirroring' against misogyny on the internet community Megalia, and on Womad, which gained many members from Megalia, it is defined to refer narrowly to 'cisgender heterosexual Korean men' and broadly to 'all Korean men.' The Korea Institute for Gender Equality Education has classified this as an expression of hatred and condemnation against a specific gender.

"Forced expulsion" — kicking someone out of a chatroom, forum, or online community.

"Picking up a jjal" — saving a meme image you like off the internet.

Short for "unfollow" on social media.