Glishkong it is!

While I have certain misgivings about the Eurocentrism of a term meant to describe words that might grate in a Korean's ear, Stafford of The Chosun Bimbo has written in to voice his approval of Glishkong, the term I coined in the previous post. The word at least has the advantage of being easy to remember.

Glishkong refers to Korean words that have been misappropriated by foreigners. Given that most expat English teachers have a list of their favorite Konglish expressions, I think it's only fair play for "us waygooks" to dig deep into our psyches and expose our own linguistic foibles to the light of day. But we'll need help: it's easier to point out the other side's faults than to highlight one's own.

So: send me a list of Glishkong locutions! If you're a Korean reader of this blog, you'll probably have a better idea which words and phrases we furriners routinely butcher and misuse!

I'm trying to recall common anglophone franglais mistakes, i.e., mistakes made by anglophones attempting to speak French. A few come to mind:

1. confusing assister and to assist
2. saying attendre pour instead of just attendre
3. the all-too-frequent pronunciation mistake wherein the French nasal "in" is pronounced like the French nasal "en/an," resulting in the butchery of "j'insiste!", which ends up sounding like the nonsense phrase "j'ansiste!"

I know I have dozens of Glishkong expressions imprinted in me noggin. I can't think of them right now, but will start compiling a list. The only one to come to mind right away is my near-total ignorance of how properly to use the expression ohiryeo, which roughly translates as "rather."

Email me! I'll create a separate post for Glishkong, and will stick a link on the sidebar. The post will be updated as submissions trickle in, and I'll be sure to credit the sender. Caution: I suspect some submissions will be controversial. I may therefore insert parentheticals, Wikipedia-style, noting that "This entry's veracity has been questioned." If it turns out that you're the only person in Korea using a particular Glishkong expression, I might have to ghettoize your submission under the rubric "Glishkong idiolect."


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