The ABC of K: A movie buff’s guide to a global rage

For those unfamiliar with K-dramas, here’s a glossary of terms to help you get started

Seaweed (It's Okay To Be Not Okay)

Chaebol (The Secret Life of My Secretary)

Daepyonim (My Secret Romance)

It’s easy to spot fans of Korean TV dramas. They have raccoon rings around their eyes from running on just three hours of sleep a day; they no longer answer their phones with hello but greet each other with a singsong “Yoboseyo”, and often seem disproportionately grateful, bowing from their waist for even trivial favours.

They get into conversations with near strangers, detecting a shared passion minutes after meeting them. And these are just the level-one fans. Level-two enthusiasts know how best to get to Namsan Tower and to calculate your Korean age, while serious K-nerds can rattle off the basic ingredients in a “jajangmyeon” recipe.

If you’re a fan, it might be hard to believe that there are people who aren’t familiar with the alluring world of K-dramas. For the uninitiated, here’s a glossary to help you get started:

Aigoo: An expression that means “gosh” or “oh no,” but can also be used when faced with a cuteness overload. For example, you may playfully pinch a loved one’s cheek and say, “Aigoo…”

Chaebol: Extremely wealthy business family. Chaebol heirs are easily spotted by the retinue of black cars that bring them to work. If you can still not tell, they are usually heard pointing it out themselves, or forcing their credit card on their love interest and pressuring them to run up a huge bill.

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Daepyonim: CEO. Koreans are title-conscious, and it’s common for CEOs or chairmen to be addressed by their titles even at home or in intimate settings. Koreans also avoid second-person pronouns as a mark of respect, so a curious love interest might actually ask the chaebol heir, “So when did daepyonim first fall for me?”

Hwaiting: This is derived from the English word fighting. But when Koreans raise their fists and shout “Hwaiting!” they’re actually calling out, “Good luck!”

Kimchi: This is a side dish of fermented cabbage or radish, made in excessive quantities by mothers. When the male lead gets a big container of kimchi from the prospective mother-in-law, he can be sure he’s won her over.

Oppa: An older male relative or friend, sometimes used for a boyfriend, too. The hero works hard to be called oppa, and wins it after many consistent acts of caring. Nothing confers the oppa status as quickly as a piggyback ride (see below).

Piggyback ride: If it is episode six already and you still haven’t seen the piggyback ride, you have a right to get nervous and wonder where the story is going. All K-drama lovers know that when the heroine gets drunk on soju, the man doesn’t just drive her or take her home in a cab but has to totter up the streets of Seoul with the babbling woman on his back.

Ramyeon: The world-famous Korean comfort food is also a romantic device. When the man says, “I want to cook ramyeon a hundred times for you,” the clever girl knows he’s actually saying, “I want to grow old with you.”

Seaweed soup: Watery green soup packed not just with nourishing protein but a message for the eater.

If you’re watching a drama where two men are wooing the same girl, just wait until her birthday comes up. You can safely bet on the guy who makes her seaweed soup, because only clueless losers would forget that seaweed soup equals a long and fruitful life.

Tofu: This is a universally consumed bean curd but K-drama fans know it as a symbol of rebirth.

For example, when mafia thugs get released from prison, their benevolent boss usually sits them down for a meal at a table laden with tofu.