Let’s learn 욕! #1 The basics

I always believe in learning all aspects of a language, and thus vulgarities and crude expressions are also on my radar.  It’s usually hard for foreigners to judge how strong or offensive such expressions are and especially in the Korean language where  the speech styles and honorific system is so complex. The golden rule: never use it with people older than you or people you are not familiar with. Vulgarities are very common in Korean movies but not dramas/variety shows. I classify vulgarities
as the ‘good to know’ knowledge and despite my *ahem* high personal interest in them, I won’t use it.

I’m no pro at 욕 but just sharing what I know! Learn and use at your discretion ^^;; 욕 배워보자!

There are a few prefixes / suffixes that can be added to other words to sound more crude and in certain circumstances, be used as vulgarities.

놈 / 새끼 – The crude way of calling a guy, although it can be used on girls sometimes. There’s no real equivalent in English, but you can see it as ‘bastard’. 놈 can be used in a softer way, like how girls can tell their boyfriend ‘나쁜 놈. 나 얼마나 걱정했는지 알아?’ or used in a joking manner among guys. 새끼 is more offensive, particularly if you are not close to the other party. It refers to the offspring of animals and hence is crude when applied to humans. And girls don’t use it to refer to their boyfriends in the same way 놈 is sometimes used.

년 – The girl equivalent ‘bitch’. But unlike English where you can use it more freely, 년 is very offensive. And girls don’t usually call each other that.

개 – A prefix (meaning: dog) where you add to other words to show your frustration, emphasizing on the shitty situation and making the expressions more crude. 개새끼, 개망신, 개짜증 etc you get the idea.

There are of course more, but let’s leave that for another day shall we? ^^

임마

A very common expression heard in dramas/movies. It is the contracted version of 이 놈아 and it’s common to hear it used like ‘야 임마!’. Usually used among guys of similar age or by an elder to a younger male.