Terms
Agassi – young lady
Ahjussi – term used to describe or call older male, I always think it’s similar to using “sir” or “mister”.
Ajumma – similar to ahjussi, like a ‘mam, to call older female who’s not an noona/unni, usually married
Chaebol – term used to describe family owned business conglomerate. In k-drama land, chaebol is used to describe the oldest 2nd or 3rd generation rich boy/man heir.
Cracktastic – addictively fantastic
Doenjang Girl/Woman – to describe a female who is not only materialistic, but willing to scrimp on essentials in order to buy luxury/brand name goods. The idea behind “doenjang” is that doenjang jjigae (stew) is one of the cheapest meal you can buy and this type of girl will eat that in order to buy the the unnecessary luxury item.
Dongsaeng – younger sibling male or female.
Hoobae – term to describe your junior college mate or co-worker
Hyung – term for older brother used by male
Makjang – a made-up Korean word for a hot mess, basically when a drama plots becomes ridiculously extreme and absurd and deviate from realistic development of the stories. Typical makjang elements are extreme corporate take-over/inheritance drama, birth secrets, terminal illness or blindness, amnesia, revenge, murder, etc. Not to say any one of these elements have to be makjang, but it’s usually in how they are used and handled. For example, a girls gets an evil step-sister, who runs over her, making her family think she’s dead, but in reality has amnesia and isn’t found until she’s an adult, finally connects with her long-lost love, only to go blind, then have cancer and die anyway (there’s also some sacrificial suicide thrown in). Seriously, all of this was in a single drama.
Maknae – youngest of all the siblings
Noona – term for older sister used by male
Oppa – term for older brother used by female
OST – Soundtracks for drama/movie
OTP – One True Pairing – the main couple of the drama
Saeguk – historical drama
SLS – Second Lead Syndrome – where you’ve fallen for the second lead and wished the OTP was with the second lead
STP – Secondary True Pairing – the secondary couple, not all dramas have STP, usually second leads don’t pair up as couples, but act more to keep the OTP apart.
Sunbae – term to describe an older, more senior person usually from college or work
Unni – older sister used by female
Whacktastic – whacky fantastic
Free and safe online streaming sites with minimal to no advertisement:
Viki – This is currently my favorite online streaming site. For the more popular dramas, the English subs are the fastest. Also, I help out on the subs here and there!
Other sites with popups, etc that have given my pc viruses:
Korean Drama News, Reviews and Recaps
The sites I read the most:
Dramabeans – Many recaps, old and current
Koala’s Playground – More selective and has other Asian drama recaps
Scattered Joonni
Sites I read when I have time:
Counch Kimchi -
Cadence
Dramatalk
Thundie’s Prattle
Dangermousie
Kaedejun
Serendipity
Mihansa
