The fifty-fourth set of K-pop Deep-dive Dictionary introduces the daily K-pop words and expressions.

 

 

손추첨 [sonchucheom]

A person directly drawing the winners for fan signing events

 

sonchucheom is the process of picking a winner for an offline event in which the winner is chosen directly by a person. Internet applications have just become widely available. But just a few years ago, applications were created by purchasing albums at offline record stores which organize fan signing events and submitting them directly to application boxes. sonchu is also used as an abbreviation for sonchucheom.

 

Ex)

Jihye: Is it a sonchucheom for this time’s fan signing event?

Haeun: Yes. They’re saying that the staff is going to pick the winners.

 

 

광탈 [gwangtal]

Fast exclusion from an event

 

The term gwangtal is a combination of the words '광속' ([gwangsok] light speed) and '탈락' ([tallak] fail), implying to be excluded at the speed of light from events like fan signings, concert tickets, and public broadcasting applications. Since a restricted number of people can participate in the activities, some people will eventually fail to join. In these cases, K-pop fans express their remorse by saying ‘I did gwangtal’ or by adding the word gwangtal after the event's name.

 

Ex)

Minseok: I applied for OH MY GIRL’s fan signing event but I did gwangtal.

Hyunwoo: Same. Fan signing event gwangtal.

 

 

뒷북 [dwitbuk]

To react late

 

dwitbuk is defined in a dictionary as ‘a metaphor for making a scene unnecessarily after things have been done.’ This term is frequently used in the form of ‘hitting the dwitbuk’ or ‘it is a dwitbuk.’ For K-pop fans, dwitbuk is when one learns about an artist's news and responds to it belatedly or discusses the artist's issues one step behind.

 

Ex)

Jieun: Oh my god. (g)i-dle made a comeback?

Hyejeong: It’s been a while.

Jieun: Oh, I hit the dwitbuk.

 

 

떡밥 [tteokbap]

New information and news related to the artist

 

The term tteokbap refers to the latest information or news about artists. This usually includes updated videos, photos, and schedule information. A tteokbap is not just new information, but also a hint for a future event. For example, concert tteokbap implies both new concert news and the possibility of a concert.

 

Ex)

Miyeon: I guess SEVENTEEN is going to have a world tour concert!

Donghyun: For real? Is there an article about it?

Miyeon: No. They just gave a tteokbap about the world tour at the fan meeting event.

 

 

-꾸 [kku]

Short for ‘decorating’

 

kku is an abbreviation of ‘꾸미기’ ([kkumigi], to decorate) and it means to decorate an object. kku, which came from shortening the word '다이어리 꾸미기' ([daieori kkumigi] decorating a diary) to "dakku," is used next to the word of an object to be decorated. This object to be decorated is combined with kku by taking its initial letter. For example, if people decorate the album, it is an 'ael-kku' (short for 앨범 꾸미기[aelbeom kkumigi]), and if people decorate the top loader, it is a 'topkku.'

 

Ex)

Siyoon: I lost track of time doing topkku the whole day. 

Eunjung: You really like decorating things.

 

 

 

 

※ K-pop Culture Lab at Hanteo Global aims to set the standard of K-pop and make the K-pop experience more accessible and enjoyable to all K-pop fans worldwide. As part of the initiative, we started the ‘K-pop Deep-dive Dictionary’ series that introduces new fans to the terms and expressions that only true K-pop fans know and use. We hope that this series will help international K-pop fans and the public to better understand the unique culture of Korean K-pop fans and use the words to communicate with them.