A lady in Apgujeong has been selling apples as a promotion for a line of products called "apple hip"
Korea Times Reports
Now, Apple hip sounds like a uniquely Korean creation to me: you see, here in Korea, the word for "bum" or "ass" is often confused with the word for "hip" - as far as I can tell, they're one and the same word to Koreans, in the same way that there's pretty much just the word "neck" in Korean, rather than having separate words for your neck (usually meaning the back) and your throat (the soft front part). See also: jaw/chin. Those up on their North American slang know that apple bottom, over there, has a different meaning.
So, let's add "Apple Hip" to the list of english phrases that are weird Korean/Konglish renderings of North-American slang phrases.
Does anybody know more about Apple Hip products than what's in the article? James in The Grand Narrative writes about "apple hips" in Korea - including these ass-tastic TV ads. Looks like having "Apple Hips" in Korea (see below:)
one expat's life in Korea
3 comments:
Shortly after we married, I took my Korean wife sight-seeing in downtown Atlanta. She was astounded at all the comparatively voluptuous black women. They had curves in places that Korean women don't even have places.
There's a song in Korean that goes, "사과같은 내얼굴 blahblahblah" and there's another verse that goes "호박 같은 내얼굴" and says "my eyes are crooked, my nose is crooked, and my mouth is crooked" (whereas for the apple part they say everything's pretty). It's a really old song!
that's really cute, Hannah.
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