Internet slang

"King" (English) plus the Chinese character for king (王) plus "jjang" (the best) — the best of the best. Reportedly discovered during a "find the worst username" event on DC Inside's World of Warcraft gallery.

"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.

"The mood suddenly went cold," shortened.

This phrase originated from the 2009 MBC daily sitcom *High Kick Through the Roof!*. In the show, Sun-jae, who was known for frequently farting, would fart even in front of young Hae-ri. Hae-ri's mother, Hyun-kyung, asked Sun-jae, "Father, do you really thrust your butt in front of me like that just to fart?" Sun-jae replied, "What's wrong with farting? You're the one who should call your father 'butt'! 'Butt'!" Hyun-kyung then said, "I call him 'butt' because he keeps feeding his farts to the child!" Sun-jae retorted, "Do you call him 'butt' just because he feeds his farts?" At this, Hae-r...

Literally "the taste of being an idiot." First used on a DC Inside webtoon gallery for something so context-free, absurd and terrible it's funny. "Byeong-keu" is a stronger version, blending it with "critical."

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

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").

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

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."

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.

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

A hateful or malicious online comment.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

"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.

Clipped from Japanese "arigatō gozaimasu" — a casual "thanks" used among friends and online.

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

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

It is used as a comprehensive ‘negative expression.’ It is a term coined by netizens to mock Moon Hee-jun by exploiting the fact that the pronunciation of ‘why break’ in his song ‘I’ sounds like ‘why break.’

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 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.

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.

"Their form is insane" — said in amazement when someone's performance, skill or look is on another level.

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

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.

"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").

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).

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

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.

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."

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.

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

"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.

"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).

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

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

"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.

"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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

Direct message — a private message on social media.

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).

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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).

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pointing people to the link in your social media profile.

"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.

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

"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 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.

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

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

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.

"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.

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

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

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

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.

"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).

The most common anonymous placeholder nickname on DC Inside.

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

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).

"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.

"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."

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

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.

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

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.

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."

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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)

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

"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."

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

"Nerf" — weakening a character, item, or skill in a game balance patch.

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

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).

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.

: It came from a friend of Twitch Donation.

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

An open KakaoTalk chatroom — a group chat anyone can join by link, without exchanging IDs.

Short for "real life" — the part of life outside games, fandom or the internet. "Time to get back to hyeonsaeng."

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*.

Someone who pretends to be a different person online, usually with fake photos.

People who follow you back on social media.

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