Meme slang

"The mood suddenly went cold," shortened.

From a 2013 MBC variety show (Dad! Where Are We Going?): an 8-year-old boy said a girl who liked him made him feel "joeunga-bongga" (roughly, "I guess it's kind of nice") — the innocent, awkward phrasing became a viral catchphrase.

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").

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 roundabout way of saying something or someone looks ugly, tacky, or just bad. Spread from a meme about a player's avatar in the game LinePlay.

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).

In the drama *Taejo Wang Geon*, when a subject coughed, Gung Ye said, "Who is it? Who made that coughing sound?" which eventually became a popular catchphrase.

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.

It is a trending term that originated from Girlfriend's Umji saying to fans at the filming of the 2017 Lunar New Year Idol Star Athletics Championships, "Anyone who received two packets of ketchup! Confession of conscience!", meaning a confession about a trivial matter.

"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.

"Lucky" + Jang Won-young's English name Vicky — an exclamation that something is fortunate, the catchphrase of 원영적 사고.

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

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

It is an abbreviation for "moving meme," and is mostly used as a GIF.

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.

Slang for a disgusting or disturbing image.

A catchphrase from cartoonist Eongdeongguk's webtoon "Gay Bar Bound for Hong Kong."

In a viral personality-by-hormone trend, a man seen as testosterone-driven: assertive, direct, take-charge. Not an actual scientific category.

Used similarly to "nakshi" (bait/clickbait). Before this term caught on, "nakshi" was more common, but it overtook it in popularity after a viral meme of a Black man holding a Yu-Gi-Oh card saying "You've activated my trap card!" It's also used in the fuller form "trap card."

It is a speech pattern used by teenagers of the generation that eats school lunches. They mix in abbreviations, initialisms, and slang from famous creators.

A stylized way of writing out "SBS" (Seoul Broadcasting System) phonetically. KBS gets the same treatment as "Keubeuseu." A similar-style term is "beogeum" for BGM (background music).

A reaction to something surprising or embarrassing, popularised by a viral video.

A scrambled "hallelujah" shouted when you're thrilled, like "yay!" It spread from a viral church youth-group Christmas video where the signs were held in the wrong order, and riffs on the older cheer 야르.

A viral nonsense phrase ("six seven") from the song "Doot Doot (6 7)," shouted by kids as a joke with no fixed meaning.

From "meme" — a joke format, image or line that spreads and mutates online.

A nonsense word from the viral "Skibidi Toilet" videos, used randomly by younger kids to mean good, bad, or nothing at all.

Modest and tasteful in behaviour; went viral in the phrase "very demure, very mindful."

"Even better, actually" — said when something goes wrong but you spin it as a plus; sometimes used ironically for cope.

Mental decline from consuming too much low-quality online content; also that content itself.

Proof — screenshots or evidence that back up a claim.

A gleeful "woo-hoo!" shout; it comes from a 2010 Infinite Challenge clip of the show's name being misshouted, which went viral again in 2021.

"Sexy food" — food that looks and tastes amazing; usually exclaimed as an over-the-top "WOW, sexy food!" while pointing at the dish.

A teasing "to be continued" cry, used to build suspense or beg for the next part of a story; from a viral post where someone made their sibling type it to unlock the rest of a story.

Named after film director Jang Hang-jun's famously carefree attitude — a mindset of shrugging off criticism and failure instead of taking them to heart.

Someone who always sticks to the same one thing (same menu, same hobby). From a meme about people who only ever order Dongdaemun Yeopgi tteokbokki; used as gentle teasing.

"Six-seven" — a near-meaningless Gen Alpha meme said with a see-saw hand gesture, roughly "meh, so-so"; it came from a Skrilla song and spread from US teens to Korean kids.

An operatic-sounding yawn noise that went viral from an office worker's story — used when you're sleepy or bored, and sometimes when something is so good your jaw drops.

Hynix + "amen" — the SK hynix shareholders' version of "삼멘", a prayer for the stock to rise.

Samsung + "amen" — a half-joking prayer retail investors chant hoping Samsung Electronics stock goes up.

A meme from CORTIS's song "REDRED," used as a quick verdict that something is bad or to be avoided. Often paired with 그린그린 (good) — "long explanations: red red."

A meme from a CORTIS song, used as a quick, cheerful thumbs-up for something you like, want, or see as a win — "getting paid while job hunting? green green." The opposite of 레드레드.

A viral catchphrase from a K-pop idol's gyaru-style skit, pairing the Japanese casual greeting "yaho" (hi!) with the city name Geoje. Shouted as a random, upbeat greeting or cheer; people swap in other place names too.

A derogatory slang term for robots and AI, from the clanking sound machines make; originally a Star Wars insult for droids. "I'm not asking some clanker for dating advice."

A literal Korean rendering of "take the L" — used to taunt someone who lost, and now often tossed out as a random meme.

"No reply? Have a nice life" — a mock-dramatic breakup line used when someone is slow to text back, really meaning "text me already."

From a viral exchange of texts flip-flopping between "I'll attend the interview" and "I'll give up the interview" — used to parody constantly changing your mind.

Short for "former clown" — someone (often a TV personality) who used to work as a clown, from a 2026 meme wave of adding "삐" (from 삐에로, clown) to words.

Keep it low-key; don't broadcast your business — "New relationship? Quiet on the creek." Popularized on TikTok in 2026 by rapper Saucy Santana, from the idea of staying silent while fishing.

A cheerful exclamation for a good moment, born when a trot singer swapped her catchphrase into "Golden" while singing the KPop Demon Hunters song on radio.

Used to call something weird, cursed, or bizarre, from the meme "only in Ohio" — "That video is so Ohio."

A man who seems to fake sensitive or feminist-leaning tastes to appeal to women — think matcha lattes, tote bags and feminist paperbacks read in public.

Slang for a gym fanatic who lives for lifting — roughly "gym rat"; now often used jokingly, though its origin is vulgar, so avoid it in formal settings.

To prank someone with a disguised link that leads to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video — "I clicked the 'leaked trailer' and got rickrolled."

An ironic meme portraying Joe Biden as a ruthless, laser-eyed power figure, spun off from "Let's Go Brandon"; mostly used by his supporters as praise, though sometimes still mockingly.

A euphemism for "F*** Joe Biden," born in 2021 when a TV reporter misheard a crowd chant as cheering for driver Brandon Brown. Used by Biden's critics on signs, merch, and memes.

Initials-style shorthand from the meme caption "상상도 못한 정체" ("an identity I never imagined") — used to react to a shocking twist.

A TikTok phrase that took off in late March 2026, with a loose meaning: it can be praise ("you're the star of the show") or a tease for someone being over the top. Context decides which.

Ironic TikTok slang from 2025, spun off the "Gurt: Yo" meme, for doing something very smart but also very dangerous — "What he's doing right now is called gurting."

A meme term for an impossibly ideal, hypermasculine man, from black-and-white photos of a chiseled model that spread around 2017. Usually humorous or satirical: "Bro returned the shopping cart in the rain, absolute gigachad."

Short for a crude phrase meaning "someone crazy about men" — a derogatory term for a woman seen as obsessed with men or as judging everything by them. It got renewed attention in early 2026 from a viral comedy sketch by Kang Yu-mi.

A joking insult meaning roughly "suspicious fool" — "You ate my fries, you sussy baka." It combines "sussy," from the Among Us slang "sus," with the Japanese word baka (idiot).

A summer spent feeling confident, having fun, and doing your own thing — "No drama this year, it's hot girl summer." Popularized by rapper Megan Thee Stallion and her fans in 2019.