See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/369646062

The International K-Pop Fandom and Fandom Lexicon: The Globalisation of

Korean Words Through Social Media

Thesis · May 2019

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.20700.26243

CITATIONS READS

0 428

1 author:

Brittany Khedun-Burgoine
University of Oxford
11 PUBLICATIONS 2 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Brittany Khedun-Burgoine on 30 March 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

The International K-Pop Fandom and Fandom Lexicon: The Globalisation

of Korean Words Through Social Media

Word count: 14,091

Candidate number: 1024816

1
Table of Contents
Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................ 3
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 4
I. The origins of the Korean Wave: Hallyu 1.0 and initial regional popularity .........................4
II. Social media and the global expansion of the Korean Wave: Hallyu 2.0 ................................6
III. Fandom rising: the rise of the English-speaking international K-Pop fandom ..................10
IV. The International Fandom and Fandom Lexicon ..................................................................14
Specific Research Questions ................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................. 17
I. Translingual words ......................................................................................................................18
II. The third wave of sociolinguistic study ....................................................................................19
III. World Englishes ........................................................................................................................20
Chapter 3: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 21
I. Social media ..................................................................................................................................22
II. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) methodology .....................................................................23
III. Newspaper methodology ..........................................................................................................23
IV. Google Trends and the Corpus of Web-Based Global English (GloWbE) ..........................23
V. Research limitations ...................................................................................................................24
Chapter 4: Individual Case Studies of Korean Origin Words: Oppa, Unnie Chingu and
Saranghae................................................................................................................................ 25
I. What is an Oppa? Dictionary definitions and Instagram comment analysis .........................25
II. Eonnie or Unnie? Orthographic variation in English romanisation of Korean- origin
words in Fandom Lexicon ..............................................................................................................40
III. Chingus or Friends? Korean-origin words and Fandom Cultural Capital ........................44
IV: “I Love You So Much and Saranghaeyo!” Korean words providing cultural affinity ......46
Chapter 5: Individual Case Studies of ‘Hybrid Words’: Girl Crush, Skinship, Hearteu and
Oh My Godeu .......................................................................................................................... 48
I. The curious case of the Girl Crush: from English to Korean and back again .......................49
II. Skinship: cultural concept of platonic intimacy or expression of romantic interest? .........52
III. Oh my Godeu my Hearteu! The ‘eu’ suffix and Koreanization of English words .............55
Chapter 6: Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 58
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 60

2
Table of Figures

Figure 1 Timeline showing major BTS popularity breakthroughs in 2017 13

Figure 2 Google Trends data showing web search frequency for ‘oppa meaning korean’
worldwide from 2004 to present 27
Figure 3 Diagrams showing the native Korean definitions for oppa (on the left) and the
fandom definitions for oppa (on the right) 29
Figure 4 A picture of Seventeen members Joshua (left, born in 1995) and Hoshi (right, born
in 1996) taken from the group’s official Instagram account @saythename_17 31
Figure 5 A picture of Seventeen member Mingyu (born in 1997) taken from the group’s
official Instagram account @saythename_17 32
Figure 6 A picture of Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon taken from her official Instagram
account @taeyeon_ss 33
Figure 7 A picture of Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon taken from her official Instagram
account @taeyeon_ss 34
Figure 8 Google Trends data for worldwide search popularity of “unnie” (blue) and “eonnie”
(red) 42
Figure 9 Google Trends data showing search frequency for “걸크러쉬 girl crush” in South
Korea. 50
Figure 10 Poster for a “girl crush concert” featuring Sistar and MAMAMOO 51
Figure 11 Example of a meme featuring the word “faceu” 56

3
Chapter 1: Introduction

I. The origins of the Korean Wave: Hallyu 1.0 and initial regional popularity

Hallyu, ‘The Korean Wave’ is a neologism, coined during the increase of global

popularity of South Korean pop culture products in the 1990s. Not simply limited to Korean

pop music (K-Pop), The Korean Wave also includes Korean dramas (K-Dramas), Korean

cuisine (K-Food) and Korean cosmetics (K-Beauty). First expanding regionally to Asian

neighbours such those in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the Korean Wave has now crossed

regional borders and gone global. On YouTube, which is the primary platform for the release

of K-Pop music videos, video views of the top 200 K-Pop artists have tripled since 2012 –

last year they were viewed around 24 billion times with 80% of those views coming from

outside of Korea. In 2017, global K-Pop popularity began to swell with the immense

popularity of boy group BTS – their YouTube channel has more page views than Lady Gaga,

Drake and Selena Gomez1.

K-Pop, a shortened form of ‘Korean Pop’ has its early origins dating back to the

1980s. However, it wasn’t until the emergence of the idol system in the 1990s that K-Pop

became to gain prominence both domestically and abroad. Korean entertainment companies

such as S.M. Entertainment began to become involved in all aspects of idol management and

production. Coupled with the digitisation of K-Pop media through the legitimisation of the

online music-service industry in 2005, K-Pop began to become accessible to audiences

beyond Korean borders – geographical distance no longer an issue in the spread of Korean

media (Kim, 2012 p. 98-121).

1
‘The $4.7 Billion K-Pop Industry Chases Its ‘Michael Jackson Moment – Bloomberg’
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-22/the-4-7-billion-k-pop-industry-chases-its-michael-
jackson-moment (Accessed 2018)

4
 Hallyu 1.0, which is regarded as the period between the late 1990s to 2007 (Jin, 2014)

placed an emphasis on the export of Korean pop culture goods regionally to East Asian

neighbours like Japan – capitalising on ethnic and cultural similarity to appeal to Asian

markets. This desire to create idols with a wider ‘pan Asian’ appeal was evident with the

debut of boy group TVXQ! “Rising Gods of the East” and female soloist BoA in the early

2000s, both under S.M. Entertainment. The name TVXQ! was intentionally chosen to have a

wider East Asian appeal – written as 東方神起 in Chinese characters (TVXQ! itself is an

initialisation of Tong Vfang Xien Qi), it could easily be adapted to Chinese, Korean and

Japanese as DBSK (Dong Bang Shin Ki 동방신기) and Tōhōshinki respectively.

As the idol system itself had drawn considerable influence from that of the Japanese

idol system, and along with the close geographical proximity to Japan it was natural that K-

Pop first sought to gain a foothold in the lucrative Japanese music industry – the second

largest in the world to the United States (Shin, 2017). In contrast to first generation idols like

H.O.T. who had amassed success in China following on from massive popularity among

Chinese teenagers (Fuhr, 2017), the major difference with second generation idols was that

they were selected from a young age to appeal to foreign markets – trained in Japanese and

English alongside the standard industry training in vocals and dancing.

In the early 2000s, artists like BoA and TVXQ paved the way for K-Pop’s foreign

expansion, releasing music entirely in the Japanese language. BoA’s debut Japanese album

Listen to my Heart was released in 2002 – a breakthrough album for both BoA and for The

Korean Wave, the album became an RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan)

certified-million-seller and became the first album by a Korean artist to debut atop the Oricon

5
Chart2. Her first Japanese tour in 2003 following the release of critically acclaimed album

Valenti, drew in a total audience attendance of 17,804. By the time of her second tour, only a

year later, she drew in a total audience attendance of 120,000. BoA is one of only two artists

in Japan to have six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon Chart 3, the other

being Japanese native Ayumi Hamasaki 4. It was clear that Japanese audiences had been

gripped by the Korean Wave. The Japanese popularity of K-Pop served as a vital stepping

stone for further global expansion.

II. Social media and the global expansion of the Korean Wave: Hallyu 2.0

The incredible popularity of both BoA and TVXQ abroad has led for them to be

dubbed as the ‘Kings of K-Pop’ and the ‘Queen of Korean Pop’ respectively. Certainly, the

work of second generation idols in Japan laid the foundation for future success in what can be

called Hallyu 2.0 – The Korean Wave in the era of social media (Jin, 2014). The advent of

social media has had a profound effect on every aspect of our modern society – globalising

our interactions in a way that would have been unprecedented even a mere ten years ago.

With the proliferation of social media coupled with significant developments of digital

technologies such as smartphones, the Korean Wave began to seek new ways of creating

global appeal and accessibility with minimal financial costs.

2
‘BoA Again Tops Oricon Chart – KBS World Radio’
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_musicnews_detail.htm?No=7184&current_page=260
(Accessed 2018)
3
Established in 1999, Oricon Inc. (株式会社オリコン Kabushiki-gaisha Orikon) supplies statistics and
information on music and the music industry in Japan. The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry
standard albums popularity chart, issued daily, weekly and monthly and yearly
4
Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ Hamasaki Ayumi) has sold over 50 million records, making her the best-selling
Japanese solo artist of all time

6
 Social media as a means of disseminating K-Pop was first preceded by a number of

domestic developments in the K-Pop industry in the mid 2000s. The idol selection system

began to become more regimented, with many idols training for indefinite periods of time

ranging from months to years with no guarantee of being selected to debut (Fuhr, 2017). A

number of high profile boy groups from the big three entertainment companies: S.M.

Entertainment, JYP and YG 5 began to debut, Big Bang, 2PM and Super Junior led to a

revival in popularity of K-Pop when the popularity of first-generation idols began to wane. It

was however, the debut of girl groups such as Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation in 2007

who truly became the representative groups of the second-generation of idols and drastically

altered the K-Pop industry with their incredible popularity and domestic rivalry.

When a number of other high-profile groups such as f(x), T-ara, KARA and 2NE1

debuted just mere years later, the domestic popularity of K-Pop had soared. This mainstream

popularity was met with increased collaboration between entertainment companies and

television networks meant that awareness of idols and K-Pop was increased far beyond when

groups were promoting new singles or appearing on music shows. Variety and entertainment

shows such as Girls’ Generation Hello Baby, 2NE1 TV, Invincible Youth and We Got

Married all sought to promote K-Pop beyond music alone (Kim, 2012 p. 98-121).

In addition to this collaboration with television networks, whereas previous foreign

marketing attempts had focused on Korean idols learning Japanese or Mandarin Chinese to

appeal to global audiences, there was an increasingly more multinational angle to idols

recruited into second-generation groups. Fei and Jia of JYP Entertainment’s girl group Miss

5
Founded by Lee Soo-man, Park Jin-young and Yang Hyun-suk, S.M. Entertainment (founded by Lee Soo-
man), JYP Entertainment (founded by Park Jin-young) and YG Entertainment (founded by Yang Hyun-suk) are
widely regarded to be the three largest entertainment companies in Korea

7
A are both mainland Chinese as is Victoria from S.M. Entertainment’s girl group f(x), all

speaking Mandarin Chinese as their mother tongue. Jessica and Tiffany from Girls’

Generation are both Korean-American, bilingual in Korean and English.

This increased multinationalism meant that idols could appeal to global markets –

Tiffany and Jessica would often conduct interviews in English, catering not just to native

English-speaking fans, but also those in South-East Asia and other regions where English

language learning is an essential part of education. This no doubt contributed to the growing

global spread of K-Pop, as many international fans, not speaking Korean, felt a stronger

affinity to idols speaking their native languages (Fuhr, 2017).

These domestic developments laid an important groundwork for international appeal

and popularity which was then furthered the ease of spread offered by digital platforms and

the internet. Major social media and digital technologies such as YouTube, Twitter and even

the iPhone appeared between 2004 – 2007, making the transcultural flow of foreign media

easier in the era of ‘Hallyu 2.0’. YouTube, above all other social media platforms, would

especially become a key marketing and promotion strategy for many K-Pop entertainment

companies.

As the rapid growth of social media continued throughout the mid-2000s, K-Pop

entertainment companies sought to take advantage of the free promotion offered by

uploading music videos to YouTube – in the meantime they could still profit from the

proceedings collected from advertising, royalties and licensing (Ahn, 2013). S.M.

Entertainment opened their official YouTube channel in 2009, the first Korean entertainment

company to do so. Many entertainment companies began to operate a main company-wide

8
promotional channel, posting music videos, interviews and other promotional material.

Following on from this, many major entertainment companies additionally began to create

individual artist YouTube channels, some of which amassed more views that the company-

wide channel.

As social media usage continues to grow globally, this promotion through YouTube

was coupled with official accounts on other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook

and Instagram. According to data collected by Statista, the number of social network users

worldwide increased from just under a billion in 2010 to 2.46 billion just seven years later in

20176.

At the end of 2017, Instagram Korea released a list of the most followed Korean

celebrities on the platform. The top three were all members of S.M. Entertainment boy group

EXO: Park Chanyeol (11 million followers), Oh Se-hun (10 million followers) and Byun

Baek-hyun (9.8 million followers). As of February 2018, all three members have seen an

increase of almost 2 million followers – showing that the global appeal of K-Pop is

increasing. Of the ten celebrities with the most views on Instagram Stories, three were current

or former members of nine-member S.M. Entertainment girl group Girls’ Generation: Jessica

Jung, Kim Taeyeon and Choi Soo-young7.

In addition to this, in late December 2017, the music video for “TT” by JYP

Entertainment girl group TWICE became the first girl group music video to hit 300 million

6
‘Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions) – Statista’
https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ (Accessed 2018)
7
‘The most popular Korean celebrities on Instagram this year – SBS popasia’
https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2017/12/12/most-popular-korean-celebrities-instagram-year (Accessed
2018)

9
views, a mere thirteen months and twenty-eight days after release. “Fantastic Baby” by YG

Entertainment boy group BIGBANG, the first music video to reach the milestone, did so

around five years after release 8. As these figures show, domestic developments in the K-Pop

industry and the proliferation of social media platforms means that K-Pop is no simply

reaching a regional audience – it has gone global.

III. Fandom rising: the rise of the English-speaking international K-Pop fandom

The rather isolating term ‘international fan’ is somewhat evident of the relative

isolation international fans can experience from being fans of K-Pop. Especially for those

fans who reside outside of Asia, it can be incredibly costly to travel to Korea to attend K-Pop

concerts, fan signings or other events. The term ‘international fan’ in itself provokes

imagination of a vast alien body of fans, not linked to any particular culture or ethnicity,

simply united in their interest in Korean pop culture.

Understandably, given this geographical distance and additionally the language

barrier, many fans operate in online communities of which there are plenty. Larger popular

K-Pop news sites such as allkpop, onehallyu, Koreaboo and Soompi all offer interactive

comment sections and in the case of allkpop and onehallyu have forums covering a vast array

of topics where fans can interact and discuss anything K-Pop related. These online

communities offer international fans places to share and discuss their interest in Korean pop

culture.

8
‘Kpop Groups YouTube Records – onehallyu’ https://onehallyu.com/topic/320184-kpop-groups-youtube-
records/ (Accessed 2018)

10
 The move of K-Pop media in the era of Hallyu 2.0 away from traditional broadcast

media and towards online, social platforms such as YouTube and more recently, Naver

owned V Live offered the opportunity for K-Pop to expand globally without any need for

overseas promotion – which was the previous method in the mid 2000s. Wonder Girls, under

JYP Entertainment, were regarded as the ‘nation’s girl group’, a coveted term which spoke to

their incredibly domestic popularity. Their entertainment company saw this as an opportunity

for expansion into the lucrative US music market – however this was largely regarded as a

failure, and many have speculated their absence from the domestic market contributed to the

phenomenal rise in popularity of Girls’ Generation 9.

Certainly, Girls’ Generation has one of the earlier success stories in attaining

popularity in America and this no doubt had an influence on the global popularity of K-Pop.

As a group that had already experienced widespread success in Japan and with two Korean-

American members fluent in English (Jessica Jung and Tiffany Hwang), Girls’ Generation

already had more credibility in terms of international appeal. Their 2011 US network TV

debut with a live performance of their single “The Boys” on highly popular American talk

show the Late Show with David Letterman was reported on by a number of high-profile

media outlets, such as Billboard 10.

Despite this, earlier attempts at ‘breaking the US’ through traditional media had been

relatively unsuccessful. The international fandom, unable to attend events and very limited in

9
‘BTS pave way for K-Pop golden age in US, achieving what Psy and Wonder Girls failed to accomplish –
South China Morning Post’ http://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2127984/bts-pave-way-k-pop-golden-
age-us-achieving-what-psy-and-wonder-girls (Accessed 2018)
10
‘Girls' Generation Makes Big U.S. Debut on 'Letterman': Watch – Billboard’
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/viral-videos/508237/girls-generation-makes-big-us-debut-on-
letterman-watch (Accessed 2018)

11
global K-Pop performances or concerts, were for the most part limited to following idols

through pictures or fan accounts translated through Twitter or posted on forums.

Online communities and social media offered the crucial feature of instant sharing

and disseminating of media. The international fandom operated as a global community,

consuming foreign-language media and sharing in their desire to translate and understand the

material. Many idols or groups have their own individual dedicated fan translator or fan

subbing groups who source media appearances or any Korean accounts of fan interaction and

translate it in a matter of hours after release. These fan translators have played a critical role

in the spread of K-Pop media, allowing an almost constant stream of English language

material for English-speaking international fans to consume. “Bangtan Translations”

(@BTS_Trans), a translation and subbing team dedicated to BTS who operate mainly on

Twitter, currently have 1.36 million followers 11.

We can see that this extensive network of fans and translators on social media has

contributed to the accessibility of Korean media in English and thus facilitated the spread of

the international fandom. This has no doubt contributed to the international fandom playing a

greater role in the popularity of K-Pop as it seeks to become more globalised.

One example of the now crucial role the international fandom and social media play

can be illustrated through Bighit Entertainment boy group BTS. The six-member group

debuted in 2013 and have been peculiar in having a larger international fandom than

domestic. In the period from 2016-present, they have achieved an immense popularity in the

11
‘Bangtan Translations – Twitter’ https://twitter.com/bts_trans?lang=en (Accessed 2018)

12
West which is unrivalled by any previous attempts for a K-Pop group to ‘break’ the

American market. Crucially, they attained this popularity through social media.

As international fans have relatively few opportunities to see their favourite idols face

to face, being able to see them through live videos and frequent social media posts helps

maintain their interest in the fandom and helps additionally provide a more personal insight

into the ‘everyday’ lives of idols not accessible through broadcast media appearances.

BTS are often dubbed the ‘Social Media Kings’, as their frequent use of social media

has no doubt assisting their incredible international popularity despite coming from a

relatively small and unknown entertainment company. In 2017 alone BTS made a number of

high-profile American media appearances. They became the first K-Pop group to perform on

an American awards show when they performed their 2017 single “DNA” at the American

Music Awards to a viewership of millions. Since then they have continued to break numerous

records – on YouTube, following the release of their May 2018 single “Fake Love”, BTS

broke the record for the K-Pop group with the most YouTube views in 24 hours. “Fake Love”

amassed 35.9 million views in a single day, outdoing 2017’s “DNA”, with 22.3 million

views.

Figure 1 Timeline showing major BTS popularity breakthroughs in 201712

12
‘How BTS Took Over the World: A Timeline of The Group's Biggest Career Moments - Billboard’
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/8455612/bts-takeover-timeline-bbmas (Accessed 2018)

13
 In addition to this, BTS are now the most-followed account on V Live, surpassing 9

million followers. Their May 2018 album Love Yourself: Tear topped the iTunes Top

Albums charts in 65 different regions. Following on from their 2017 win for Top Social

Artist at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, they scooped the award in 2018 for the second

year running. The role of the international fandom and social media is now more influential

than ever, as the case of BTS shows13.

IV. The International Fandom and Fandom Lexicon

As fandom is inherently community based, it offers a ripe linguistic environment for

the development of lexicon which is unique to that specific community. Outside of Korea,

where K-Pop can be considered as mainstream pop music, the K-Pop fandom is largely

regarded as a subculture – that is, despite the increasing global popularity of K-Pop globally,

it has not yet become part of the mainstream.

This is accentuated by the fact that it is often distinctly separated from Western pop

music. There is blossoming debate on whether K-Pop is its own music genre – separated

from ‘Pop’ as a genre entirely. Two articles posted in May 2017 on two different websites

provided opposing opinions on whether or not K-Pop was a separatist genre isolated from

‘pop’.

This separation from the mainstream creates an isolated environment whereby which

the development of a unique lexicon can help assist the creation of identify of fans as specific

13
‘BTS’ ‘Fake Love’ Music Video Has the Biggest 24-Hour YouTube Debut of 2018 - Billboard’
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8457053/bts-fake-love-music-video-biggest-24-hour-youtube-
debut-2018 (Accessed 2018)

14
members of the K-Pop fandom. Fandom is a grassroots practice and a form of participatory

culture – fans operate in fan-created and fan-operated communities on social media over a

shared interest in K-Pop (Jenkins, 2013 p.27). Fans are often involved in a variety of

processes by which the generation of fan-created content adds layers of meaning to the

original material to render it more culturally consumable. These processes include recreating

and reinterpreting (stories and characters), appropriating and subverting (socio-cultural

meanings and narratives) (Shin, 2017).

The development of fandom lexicon can be viewed as a part of these processes.

Whilst the English-speaking international fandom cover a vast variety of linguistic

backgrounds, what they do share is an interest in Korean language media. K-Pop and K-

Dramas provide the same visual content which is unchanged across languages – and this

influences the development of fandom lexicon. It creates a key association between the visual

aspect of K-Pop and K-Dramas and the linguistic.

Korean language-origin lexicon in particular can play a critical role in the identify of

fans as members of the ‘in-group’ of K-Pop fans, showing that they have a knowledge of the

language which the media they are a fan of is in and are not an ‘outsider’ (Thornton, 1995

p.184). Fandom lexicon can therefore illustrate what Bourdieu (1990) has described as “how

we create groups with words”. Displaying an ability to command these Korean-origin words

can cement the identity of a fan and provide them with fandom cultural capital (Hills, 2002

p.30), displaying the knowledge they have about their fandom in particular.

Additionally, as much K-Pop media is mediated through translators who in many

cases are also fans – dubbed ‘fan translators’ or ‘fansubbers’ – there is opportunity for the

15
interactive discussion of how to best render Korean-origin vocabulary in English. This is

further supported by the fandom operating primarily online on social media platforms. Unlike

traditional media, the language used online is unbound by grammatical conventions and able

to develop without restriction imposed by tradition grammar.

Fans therefore do not only take influence from Korean-origin vocabulary, they also

take influences from English-origin vocabulary and even create hybridised forms. Fandom

lexicon is critical to becoming a member of the international K-Pop fandom, and this is

evident in the wide amount of online and offline material pertaining to the understanding of

the lexicon.

The lexicon is so prevalent that in a Google search for ‘K-Pop Words’ not only

suggests other searches such as: “What is the meaning of the Korean word Aigoo?”, “What is

the meaning of noona?” and “What is the meaning of Sunbae?” – it also brings up around

8,360,000 results. The first page is inundated with websites suggesting key phrases and

words than any K-Pop fan should know. This search data highlights a correlation specifically

between Korean origin words and ‘K-Pop’ specifically.

This K-Pop fandom specific lexicon is so vast and prevalent in the online

communities centred around Korean pop culture that in 2016 The K-Pop Dictionary was

released, claiming to feature 500 essential K-Pop and K-Drama words and phrases that fans

must know, alongside detailed examples of usage provided in context.

16
 Even article titles on many popular English-based news sites such as Koreaboo

frequently feature fandom lexicon. The name of the website ‘Koreaboo’14, is a part of fandom

lexicon itself – a term used to describe a non-native fan who is fixated with Korean culture,

usually carrying a negative connotation, associated with fans who are ignorant about the

wider culture and society and are willing to revoke their own nationality to become ‘Korean’.

An article posted on February 14th 2018 featured the word sasaeng in the title, a Korean word

used for overly-zealous fans who often intrude on idols private lives. Fandom lexicon is thus

not only a source of fandom cultural capital, it is also integral to membership of the fandom

‘in-group’ and helps cement the specific identity of a fan as a K-Pop fan.

Specific Research Questions

• How has fandom lexicon formed through social media?

• What are the characteristics of the lexicon used within the fandom?

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The Korean Wave has drawn a wide interest from scholars due to its inherently

multidisciplinary nature – it does not simply reach fandom and fan subcultures, but through

K-Food and K-Beauty in particular it additionally reaches mainstream audiences. In the past

decade a variety of literature pertaining to the global popularity and influence of the Korean

Wave has been published – scholars in many fields ranging from sociology to economics

have addressed the impact of the Korean Wave on global audiences.

14
“Koreaboo” developed from the word for non-native anime and manga fans “Weeaboo”, popularised on
4chan. “Weeaboo” fans often claim to be well-informed on Japanese culture and speak Japanese, despite only
knowing a few popular words online, carrying a decisively negative connotation.

17
 Edited volumes such as The Global Impact of South Korean Popular Culture: Hallyu

Unbound by Valentina Marinescu and Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social

Media by Sangjoon Lee have sought to provide interdisciplinary discussion of the far reach

of the Korean Wave in recent years. However, despite a focus on the role of social media in

the dissemination of the Korean Wave, none of these words have addressed the central

question of the linguistic impact of predominantly English-speaking fans consuming Korean

media. Despite much recent research such as that contained in the volume above dealing

increasingly with the global impact of the Korean Wave as opposed to the regional, scholars

examining the Korean Wave have not yet explored the importance of the linguistic impact the

Korean Wave has had and is continuing to have on varieties of World Englishes.

Thus, this study aims to provide an insight into this little studied aspect of the global

impact of the Korean Wave – the linguistic impact of the Korean Wave on English-speaking

fans and how Korean-origin vocabulary in particular is globalised and mediated into English

through fandom and as a part of fandom lexicon.

I. Translingual words

The internet moves at an incredibly fast pace, and with billions of users using

Facebook-owned social media platforms alone, users are no longer limited to local news or

media – they are able to turn instead to global news and adopt an increasingly global outlook.

Just like people, words are constantly on the move, crossing the borders between different

languages. The distinction between native and foreign words is increasingly less clear with

lexical migration accelerated by the ease of transcultural flows of media on social media and

the internet.

18
 Traditional terms used for foreign-born words such as ‘borrowing’ or ‘loanwords’ are

quickly becoming increasingly inadequate and redundant in defining the linguistic identity of

translingual words – words which cannot be defined purely by their linguistic origin as they

now exist in several languages. English lexicon historically has been welcoming of foreign

and hybridised lexicon which can more adequately express ideas in our multilingual and

diverse modern society.

Whilst the native meaning of a word in its place of origin contributes significantly to

the layers of meaning found in a word and its form, it cannot restrict the meaning and form of

the word when it migrates to another language. Translingual words are thus those which now

exist in a variety of languages with varying levels of meaning through mediation by those

with diverse and unique linguistic repertoires. They challenge the idea of a monolingual state

lexical model and ‘native’ lexicon – providing a more diversified lexicon representative of

our future in a more multilingual, dynamic and diverse reality (Kiaer, forthcoming).

II. The third wave of sociolinguistic study

This notion of translingual words goes hand in hand with Eckert’s (2012) theory of

the third wave of sociolinguistic study, which completely reverses the relationship between

language and society – placing greater emphasis on speakers not as passive carriers of dialect

but as innovative stylistic agents who are involved in the constant active and dynamic process

of tailoring linguistic styles throughout their lives.

This ‘third wave’ places the speaker in a key role in tailoring their linguistic repertoire

throughout their lifetime to place themselves intelligently in the social landscape. There is

now a greater emphasis on the individual idiolect of the speaker, and thus translingual words

19
which travel freely through language borders are integral to this new third wave, where

individualised meaning takes precedent.

Individuals choose their lexicon according to where they want to be in the social

landscape – and as we will see later in the study, this is integral in the usage of Korean-origin

vocabulary in fandom lexicon. Fans want to linguistically place themselves in the K-Pop

fandom in-group – and this involves a command of Korean-origin vocabulary.

III. World Englishes

As the English-speaking international fandom cross demographics across the globe,

and as these translingual words are frequently mediated through English, it is important to

consider that not only do the fans cover wide sociocultural demographics – they also have a

wide and diverse linguistic repertoire.

Whilst they may share an ability to speak the English language, the English language

is not strictly limited to the English spoken by those in so-called ‘native speaker’ regions

such as the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These fans are speakers of what we

call ‘World Englishes’.

World englishes was summarised by Kachru (1986) in his world englishes model,

which divided the situation of English in different regions where English is spoken or taught.

The ‘inner circle’ consists of the nations where English is a native language (UK, US,

Canada, Australia and New Zealand), the ‘outer circle’ where English is a second language

(Singapore, Ghana, India etc.) and finally the ‘expanding circle’, where English is taught as a

foreign language (China, Korea, Japan etc).

20
 This Korean-origin vocabulary thus, is not mediated through ‘native’ English alone –

in fact, it is more commonly mediated through world englishes owing to the relative

linguistic diversity of the international fandom. This plays a critical role in the semantic

variation in meaning and orthographic variation in the ways these words are rendered as

appropriate for usage in an English context. What may sound or appear an appropriate

orthographic rendering for a ‘native’ inner circle speaker may not be for an outer circle

speaker. Thus, world englishes have to be considered as playing a critical role in the process

of meaning and form making in the globalisation of Korean-origin words through fandom.

Chapter 3: Methodology

This study will present a select number of case studies of fandom lexicon used frequently on

social media by members of the English-speaking international fandom. The words are as

follows:

Oppa, eonnie, chingu, saranghae, Skinship, Girl Crush, -eu

These words have been selected as they provide a mixture of Korean-origin

vocabulary (oppa, eonnie, chingu, saranghae), Hybrid English words (Skinship), English-

origin words which have recently become popular in Korea (Girl Crush) and Koreanisation

of English vocabulary (-eu). All of the selected words have numerous definitions on websites

especially dedicated to the understanding of fandom lexicon and have feature in both Urban

Dictionary and The K-Pop Dictionary, cementing their status as important items of fandom

lexicon.

21
I. Social media

The methodology for this study will primarily consist of content analysis of

comments posted on popular social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter. This will

additionally be supplemented by further analysis of fan comments and interactions on

popular K-Pop forums and news sites such as allkpop, Soompi, Koreaboo and onehallyu.

The Instagram accounts selected are those of idols who have considerable influence

over the international fandom and have significant global fanbases not limited to Korea. As

fans are responding to visual stimuli in the form of personal images posted by idols,

Instagram has more follower to idol interaction than other community-based sites and thus

has the most frequent use of kinship terms (oppa, eonnie). I will be looking primarily at

Instagram accounts from the following idols and groups:

Seventeen joint official group account (@saythename_17) (3 million followers)15

Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation (@taeyeon_ss) (11.6 million followers)16

Twitter will also be used to track fan to fan interactions. Through the hashtag search

feature, the selected words can be searched, and linguistic developments over a select time

frame can be tracked through each Tweet being accurately time stamped. As there is

relatively less data pre-2008 owing to the relative lack of global popularity of The Korean

Wave, I will be collecting data from 2008-present.

15
‘Seventeen official Instagram – Instagram’ https://www.instagram.com/saythename_17/?hl=en (Accessed
2018)
16
‘Taeyeon official Instagram – Instagram’ https://www.instagram.com/taeyeon_ss/ (Accessed 2018)

22
II. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) methodology

In order to track and assess the usage of these words outside the online sphere of the

international fandom, evidence will be gathered through online databases providing primarily

academic materials such as ProQuest, JSTOR and Google Books. Using these databases will

provide evidence of widespread use which predates the fandom usage of the selected words

prevalent on social media. Besides providing evidence of the first recorded instance of these

words being used in English, this methodology can also help determine where these words fit

into different types of English speech and whether there have been any orthographic changes.

III. Newspaper methodology

Nexis, an online database of global digital newspapers, will be also used to search for

the selected words as keywords, allowing for cross-referencing. As fandom lexicon has

formed out of Korean pop culture specifically, tracking early reporting which might include

certain of fandom lexicon can help track any semantic or orthographic changes, and assess

how more traditional media deals specifically with the presentation of Korean-origin

vocabulary. It can also provide an insight into usage of the selected words outside of a purely

fandom context and help assess how Korean-origin words are beginning to be understood in

an English context in mainstream media. Data pre-dating the more recent data collected off

social media can help assess historic usage of the selected words.

IV. Google Trends and the Corpus of Web-Based Global English (GloWbE)

The popularity of Korean media is not limited to the ‘inner circle’ English speakers

and as such Google Trends and the Corpus of Web-Based Global English (GloWbE) will be

23
used to provide location-based popularity data for the usage of the selected words amongst

global English speakers. Due to the growing influence and popularity of The Korean Wave in

Southeast Asia, English-speaking fans in those regions are instrumental in the spread of

Korean-origin vocabulary into World Englishes and the corpus can help identify where usage

is most commonplace.

In addition to this, Google Trends can help provide comparative data of orthographic

variations and assess which variation has become more prevalent over another. It also offers

the function to search for search popularity over a pre-selected timeframe, and the ability to

search by country, which can help provide location-specific data.

V. Research limitations

This research however, has its limitations. Although Tweets can be used by the

general public for academic purposes with no ethical concerns, all data collected off

Instagram or Twitter will have any identifiable information removed or obscured, including:

Twitter username, Instagram username and commenter usernames.

Additionally, with there being several different Korean romanisation systems in place

and some of the data searchable from databases such as ProQuest, Nexis and JSTOR

predating the creation of the Revised Romanisation of Korea, different orthographic

variations will have to be searched in order to obtain the most comprehensive data possible.

For example, the Korean word for ‘older sister’ eonnie has vast orthographic variation

ranging from onni to unnie, making it necessary to make several searches with different

orthography in mind.

24
 Furthermore, as there is little way to guarantee that Google Trends searches are

strictly for the terms in question, the data collected will be corroborated with key K-Pop news

or events which can suggest background evidence for popularity peaks or search interest.

Chapter 4: Individual Case Studies of Korean Origin Words:

Oppa, Unnie Chingu and Saranghae

I. What is an Oppa? Dictionary definitions and Instagram comment analysis

(i) Korean definition and early use of oppa in English

The Korean language, steeped in respect language to convey a complex system of

social hierarchy, has a number of versatile kinship terms which can be used in and out of a

familial context to convey closeness and intimacy, which English lacks. The kinship term

oppa ‘older brother’ can be a term of address for a blood relative, a close friend or even a

romantic partner. Below are two definitions for oppa from Korean online dictionary, Naver

Dictionary17:

1. A term of address used by a younger female sibling to address a blood related older

brother or senior male relative of the same generation within the family.

2. An affectionate term of address used by a younger female to address an unrelated

older male.

‘Korean definition of oppa from Naver Dictionary’ http://krdic.naver.com/detail.nhn?docid=27699400

17

(Accessed 2018)

25
 As we can see from the definitions above, perhaps the most important aspect of the

native Korean usage of oppa is that it is an age and gender-sensitive word. Oppa is used

exclusively by a younger female towards an older male. The erosion of the gender and age-

sensitive factor in the English usage of oppa will be a key focus point of this study.

Following the OED methodology, the earliest usage of oppa in English comes from

academic writing on a generative study of discourse in Korean and English written in 1972

(Chang, 1972 p. 20). The text notes that the usage of oppa as “female’s elder brother” in lieu

of a second-person pronoun (which would be the case in English) is systematic and

obligatory in the Korean language. In an article published in 1983 by The Associated Press,

instead of opting to translate oppa as ‘older brother’, it is simply rendered in the article as

“oppa (brother)” (Hwang, 1983). Furthermore, in an article published by The Korea Herald

in 1998, the writer notes that a woman is talking to her boyfriend and yet again “oppa

(brother)” is written (Cho, 1998). Despite the clear inclusion of the age-sensitive information

in early academic writing, in the earliest appearance of oppa in English language media the

age-sensitive information is missing – as is an attempt at translating oppa with all its glosses.

(ii) The spread of oppa on social media

The relative versatility of oppa as an address term can understandably lead to some

ambiguity into its usage amongst English-speaking international fans. As a word which is

commonplace in the Korean language, especially in song lyrics and K-Dramas, oppa is well-

known by fans and non-fans alike. PSY’s 2012 number one hit “Gangnam Style” featured the

word oppa heavily in the chorus 18. The music video currently has over 3 billion views (as of

‘Psy “Gangnam Style” lyrics – Color Coded lyrics’ https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2012/07/psy-gangnam-style-

18

gangnamseutail (Accessed 2018) The word oppa features a total of 11 times in the song

26
May 2018) and was the most viewed video on YouTube from 2012 to 2017 19. The music

video went viral, and by the end of 2012 the song had topped the charts of more than 30

countries – bringing the word oppa to a global audience.

It is therefore no surprise that there are a number of additional glosses in meaning

which have been added to the English fandom usage of oppa which do not necessarily exist

in the native Korean definition. Additions to the English definition of oppa vary from its

usage as a respect term, to a flirtatious term, as well as simply a term for a hot Korean boy

that you like. This variation in meaning could likely stem from the relative ambiguity of the

phrase as it is often not translated in Korean media, with many translators instead choosing to

use forenames instead of including hefty translation notes. It is easy to see how the broad

usage of Korean kinship terms can lead to misinterpretation from the fandom.

Figure 2 Google Trends data showing web search frequency for ‘oppa meaning korean’ worldwide from 2004 to present

As we can see from figure 2, global search interest for the meaning of oppa increased

following the 2012 release of Psy’s hit single “Gangnam Style”. Since this initial peak, the

interest in the meaning of oppa has been fairly consistent, before reaching its highest peak in

2016 – showing that interest in the term has continued to rise. This peak in 2016 can likely be

19
‘PSY's 'Gangnam Style' Now Most-Watched YouTube Video of All Time – The Hollywood Reporter’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/psys-gangnam-style-video-youtubes-393839 (Accessed 2018)

27
attributed to the blossoming popularity of boy group BTS, with their 2016 album Wings

released to critical acclaim abroad.

Oppa has undoubtedly become an integral part of fandom lexicon, featuring on

countless lists of essential words and phrases that fans need to know in order to navigate the

fandom successfully. Through “Gangnam Style” going viral, it offered oppa an easy phonetic

association, cementing its position as a ‘catchy’ Korean buzzword. Compared to some other

Korean words, oppa is relatively easy to pronounce and romanise in English, which has no

doubt contributed to its spread online.

(iii) Native definitions of oppa v fandom definitions of oppa

Oppa featured in the 2016 release The K-Pop Dictionary: 500 Essential K-Pop & K-Drama

Vocabulary & Examples Every Fan Must Know with the following definition:

Noun. “Older Brother”

A term used by a younger female to address an older male. It can be used between siblings or

anybody who has enough emotional intimacy with the recipient. Guys are known to love

hearing this from their dong saeng 20 girls as it gives them a sense of superiority and

dominance. Many girls use this to their advantage, by calling someone oppa and asking for

favors because it generally yields a higher success rate.

A further search conducted on Google for ‘oppa meaning’ additionally pulled up the

following meanings from a variety of different websites:

20
dongsaeng is a Korean word often translated as “junior” or could also be used for “younger sibling”

28
Dramafever: Meaning “older brother”, oppa is a term used by girls when speaking to guys.21

Urban Dictionary: A respectful Korean term used by younger females towards older males

9Korea: Oppa is also used to call one’s older ‘boyfriend’, which is somewhat similar to how

the word “daddy” is being used in English (hence the saying, “oppan Gangnam style”)

As we can see from the English definitions provided above, this age-sensitive factor

critical to the Korean usage of oppa is not always present in the definitions found on websites

pertaining to the understanding of fandom lexicon.

Figure 3 Diagrams showing the native Korean definitions for oppa (on the left) and the fandom definitions for oppa (on the
right)

Figure 3 illustrates the vast semantic chance which oppa has undergone through being

mediated into English by members of the English-speaking international fandom. In line

21
’101 Korean pop culture words you absolutely MUST know – dramafever’
https://www.dramafever.com/news/101-korean-pop-culture-words-you-absolutely-must-know/ (Accessed 2018)

29
Eckert’s theory of the third wave of sociolinguistic study, individual interpretation appears to

play a key role in what can be considered an oppa. For example, the diagram on the right

mentions that ‘Jimin or any other BTS member’ can be considered an oppa. This could

certainly be the case in Korean, however, it would be highly dependent on age and gender-

sensitive factors.

(iv) The “oppa aesthetic” and Instagram comment analysis

Despite the age and gender-sensitive aspect of oppa being relatively non-existent in a

number of fandom definitions, it does not necessarily mean that any idol can be regarded as

an oppa. Oppa has become synonymous with a certain type of male idol or actor – and in

some cases female idols can also be considered an oppa. As K-Pop and K-Dramas are audio-

visual, aesthetics and visual appearances can play an important role in the interpretation of

meaning as opposed to written texts. Fans are coming across the word oppa in subtitles, used

alongside a visual of a male idol or actor. The fandom ideal of an oppa is not limited to

physical attributes however, there is also a link between mannerisms, behaviour and

personality. An article posted on popular news site Koreaboo suggested that something as

simple as changing your haircut could evoke the ‘oppa aesthetic’22. This idea of the oppa

aesthetic is further evident in data collected off Instagram.

Handsome oppa v cute babies: comment analysis on Seventeen’s official Instagram

The members of boy group Seventeen, formed in 2015 under Pledis Entertainment

have an average age of 20.2, making them relatively young in comparison with a number of

22
‘Koreaboo – 5 Hair Cuts You Need To Try If You Want To Be A True Oppa’
https://www.koreaboo.com/buzz/5-hair-cuts-need-try-want-true-oppa/ (Accessed 2018)

30
other popular third-generation boy groups such as SHINee or TVXQ! As mentioned

previously, teenage girls are often the target market for the majority of K-Pop, especially boy

groups, which means it isn’t entirely unfeasible that they could be oppa to many fans. A

comparative analysis of address terms combined with adjectives used to describe the

following two images showed results furthering the idea of the oppa aesthetic.

Figure 4 A picture of Seventeen members Joshua (left, born in 1995) and Hoshi (right, born in 1996) taken from the group’s
official Instagram account @saythename_17

In an analysis of comments posted on the image featured in figure 4, there was a

direct correlation between the use of the adjective ‘cute’ (used 213 times) and ‘babies’ as a

form of address (used 54 times). In comparison, the usage of ‘oppa’ as a form of address

(used 19 times) and ‘handsome’ (used 9 times) as an adjective was much less common.

31
Figure 5 A picture of Seventeen member Mingyu (born in 1997) taken from the group’s official Instagram account
@saythename_17

Looking at the comments posted on the image in figure 5 however, revealed a vastly

different set of data. In this case, there was a direct correlation between the use of the

adjective ‘handsome’ (used 280 times) and ‘oppa’ as a form of address (used 214 times). On

the other hand, the use of the adjective ‘cute’ was much less common (used 78 times).

What is notable about this data is that Mingyu is two years younger than Joshua and a

year younger than Hoshi. Therefore, with the age-sensitive layer of meaning behind oppa in

mind – Joshua and Hoshi should be regarded as oppa as opposed to Mingyu. As Joshua and

Hoshi are providing what can be regarded as a more effeminate appearance, with a cute pose

and pink coloured hair, this visual association has influenced the prevalent usage of ‘cute’

and ‘babies’ instead of ‘oppa’ and ‘handsome’. In the image of Mingyu, however, he presents

a more traditionally masculine and handsome look, with his top shirt button undone and his

ruffled hair. This shows that his visual appearance is more in line with the idea of a

‘handsome’ or attractive ‘oppa’.

32
Swag oppa or cute unnie:23 comment analysis on Taeyeon’s official Instagram

Despite oppa being gender-sensitive in that it is used by a younger female for an older

male, it is sometimes additionally used in reference to female idols. Girls’ Generation leader

Taeyeon is one of the most popular Korean celebrities. In data released by Instagram Korea

in 2017, her Instagram Story was one of the most viewed in the country. Having been a

member of one of the most popular K-Pop girl groups of all time for the past ten years her

international reach is considerable.

Figure 6 A picture of Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon taken from her official Instagram account @taeyeon_ss

In comments posted on the image feature in figure 6, ‘unnie’ as a form of address was most

common (used 358 times) with ‘oppa’ trailing behind at a much lesser amount (used 12

times).

23
Eonnie is the Korean term for “older sister” and is used by a younger female. In this chapter it has been
romanised according to fandom lexicon conventions which will be elaborated upon in the next chapter

33
Figure 7 A picture of Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon taken from her official Instagram account @taeyeon_ss

However, in comments posted on the image in figure 7, much like we observed with

the comments on images from Seventeen’s Instagram account, there was a complete change

in the terms used to address Taeyeon. With the highest frequency was ‘oppa’ as a form of

address (used 445), followed far behind by ‘unnie’ as a form of address (used 68 times).

Additionally, ‘oppa’ was often used in correlation with the adjective ‘swag’ (used 506 times),

and the comment “swag Taeyeon oppa” was common.

This correlation between ‘oppa’ and ‘swag’ suggests that rather than considering

Taeyeon’s gender in deciding which kinship term to use, fans instead have made a link

between Taeyeon’s visual appearance and which kinship term is appropriate. In figure 6,

Taeyeon presents a more feminine image, wearing make-up with the image framed in a cute

border. In figure 7 however, she is squatting down with her legs spread and sucking on a

lollipop, presenting a more traditionally masculine image.

34
 Thus, we can see from the Instagram data above that there is certainly an oppa

aesthetic which is associated with masculinity. This association additionally spreads to

female idols, who went presenting an image which is stereotypically regarded as

‘unfeminine’ they are also addressed as oppa by members of the English-speaking

international fandom.

(v) Oppa in Philippine English

From the same Google Trends search featured earlier in this chapter, searches for

“oppa meaning korean” were most concentrated not in the UK or USA, but in the Philippines.

The Korean Wave has a much longer history of popularity in Southeast Asia, and K-Dramas

have been broadcasted in the Philippines since 2003, where they are locally referred to as

‘koreanovelas’. There have even been a number of Philippine remakes of popular Korean

dramas such as “My Love From the Star”, speaking to the popularity of K-Dramas in the

Philippines 24.

Thus, it is no surprise that oppa has become prominent in usage in Philippine English,

where it has now become associated with a ‘hot guy’. This is further supplemented by data

collected from social media, including the following Tweets collected from searching for

#oppa in Tweets posted in the Philippines:

24
‘Korean Dramas Continue to Captivate the Philippines – The Korea Times’
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/09/117_51344.html (Accessed 2018)

35
“Girl where was an #oppa when I needed one? HAHAHA! I always said I’d stay true to the

fiery Latin American telenovelas with its scruffy men with washboard abs, but damn girl that

viewpoint got OPPA-cified”

“starting my day being an #oppa”

What is evident from these Tweets is that the #oppa hashtag is prefixed by “an”. The

fact that in Philippine English oppa is paired with an indefinite article indicates familiarity

with the concept of an oppa, as oppa doesn’t need further clarification beyond being used as

a standalone noun rather than needing an accompaniment.

(vi) Fangirls, gender and the negative connotations of oppa

Oppa, despite being so prevalent in fandom lexicon, often attracts a negative

connotation amongst fans and non-fans alike. K-Pop attracts more female fans than male –

respondents to a 2016 survey sponsored by Korean Wave news site Beyond Hallyu about

international fans were overwhelmingly female 25. This is not too unusual – women in general

are more likely than men to identify their tastes in music with pop (Thornton, 1995 p. 162).

Additionally, female K-Pop fans are the target market for boy groups, who tend to fare much

better commercially than girl groups.

The usage of oppa in English by many fans has come to be associated with a certain

type of fan – a fangirl. Fangirl itself has a decidedly negative connotation. As a term, it no

longer simply means a ‘female fan’, it is instead a pejorative term used specifically for one

aspect of fandom, the young female fans, who are often regarded as ‘obsessive’ and

25
‘What are K-Pop fans like? According to this survey they’re actually pretty cool – Beyond Hallyu’
http://beyondhallyu.com/k-pop/what-are-k-pop-fans-like-according-to-this-survey-theyre-actually-pretty-cool/
(Accessed 2018)

36
‘hysterical’ (Stanish 2013). As oppa is a term used by a younger female, it is clear how

notions of gender and this negative association of a ‘fangirl’ have factored into the negative

associations of the usage of oppa online.

This negative association has led to the development of terms such as ‘oppaologist’ – defined

on Urban Dictionary 2014 as26:

Term that refers to kpop fans that always defend and make excuses for male idols even when

they do problematic things such as making sexist, racist or colorist remarks or blackface.

Their trademark phrase is “Oppa didn’t mean it”.

“Oppa didn’t mean it” has become a key phrase in fandom lexicon, with its first usage

attributed to an incident in 2010 where Lee Kikwang of BEAST did blackface and acted in a

‘watermelon commercial’, which faced international backlash for promoting racial

stereotypes 27. Since then the term has been attached to any incident where fans continue to

support an idol despite exhibiting socially problematic or unacceptable behaviour.

This has additionally been supplemented by the ironic usage of ‘oppar’, a deliberate

misspelling of oppa which was intended to ridicule fans who used the word in everyday

conversation. Oppar is credited as having originally appeared on now defunct LiveJournal

community “Kpop Secret Meme 2” before spreading to popular LiveJournal community

“Omona They Didn’t” and becoming a mainstay of fandom lexicon28. In this transition to a

26
‘Oppaologist definition from Urban Dictionary’
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=oppapologist (Accessed 2018)
27
‘Korean Idol Lee Kikwang Does Blackface – OH NO THEY DIDN’T!’
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49233603.html (Accessed 2018)
28
‘oppar definition – Kpop dictionary’ http://kpopdictionary.tumblr.com/post/29041569867 (Accessed 2018)

37
more ‘mainstream’ website, the original intention behind oppar has led to it being simply

considered as a cute way of saying oppa. Terms and phrases such as ‘oppaologist’, “oppa

didn’t mean it”, “oppa notice me” and ‘oppar’ all seek to express the negative connotations

associated with the term oppa – but perhaps more importantly, the negative connotations

associated specifically with K-Pop fangirls.

K-Pop, having not yet entered the mainstream especially in the West, is often

regarded as ‘cringey’ or ‘embarrassing’. Despite being branded as ‘pop’ music, it is still

largely associated with falling under its own individualised genre of ‘K-Pop’. On Spotify, a

highly popular digital music service offering access to millions of songs, categorises Korean

pop songs under ‘K-Pop’ as opposed to ‘pop’29. There is a distinct separation between K-Pop

and Western pop music.

Comments on popular K-Pop forums and news websites identify K-Pop fans

themselves as a major contributor to this association of cringe with K-Pop. A thread on

onehallyu featured a selection of comments which detailed the use of oppa or other Korean

words as cringeworthy in a thread entitled “what’s the cringeiest thing you’ve seen kpop fans

do?”30. Examples included: non-korean fans saying oppa in front of their favourite idols,

calling their real-life crushes oppa or noona, using Korean words in non-Korean sentences

and non-Koreans giving themselves Korean names.

As the use of oppa is inherently gendered, it is not unreasonable to assume that these

vast negative and or ironic connotations with oppa are less related to the usage and the actual

29
‘Spotify K-Pop genre page’ https://open.spotify.com/genre/kpop-page (Accessed 2018)
30
‘What’s the cringeiest thing you’ve seen kpop fans do? – onehallyu forum post’
https://onehallyu.com/topic/302509-whats-the-cringiest-thing-youve-seen-kpop-fans-do/ (Accessed 2018)

38
term itself, but more likely associated with those who use it, in this case, K-Pop ‘fangirls’.

This assumption is further evident in the K-Pop Dictionary definition. It presents the idea that

oppa is a word abused by females in order to play into ideas of male superiority as by

definition oppa is age-restricted in use towards an older male. This negative terminology

furthermore presents the idea that the usage of oppa cements the identity of the user as one of

these ‘oppa crazed’ ‘obsessive’ and ‘hysteric’ fangirls who will defend their favourite idols

even against serious allegations of problematic behaviour.

Whilst there is of course a subset of fandom who do engage in behaviour which is

considered problematic or defend their idols when they have exhibited socially unacceptable

behaviour as exemplified by the Kikwang scandal, the negative association with oppa could

in some ways related instead to the negative ‘obsessive’ and ‘hysteric’ associations of

fangirls as opposed to bad behaviour performed by the fandom.

(vii) Oppa as a translingual word

Can we say oppa is simply a hot guy when an oppa can also be a term of address for

one’s older brother? The short answer is yes – as we have seen in the definitions included in

this paper, oppa does now not simply exist in its native Korean – it now exists in English too.

It is this dual existence which has cemented oppa as a translingual word which cannot be

defined purely by its linguistic origin, it may be a Korean origin word, but it has now become

a firm feature of World Englishes.

Social media and the internet provide the perfect platform for the creation and

dissemination of translingual words, and in special reference to this study, has been a major

factor in the variations of meaning found with oppa. With the instantaneous access provided

39
by social media, it is not easier than ever before for foreign-born words to gain prominence in

English.

As the case study has shown, the global influence of oppa as a term is far-reaching in

English usage, even to the extent of becoming a prominent feature of Philippine English. It

has further illustrated that there is a direct link between the visual aspect of Korean pop

culture media with the interpretation of cultural terms. Oppa in particular has come to be

associated with masculine aesthetics, with being viewed as conventionally ‘handsome’ or

‘hot’ a key feature of the fandom interpretation of oppa.

II. Eonnie or Unnie? Orthographic variation in English romanisation of Korean-

origin words in Fandom Lexicon

(i) Early usage in English

Despite having not attained the same cultural symbolism in fandom lexicon as oppa,

the Korean word for ‘older sister’ (used by a female), which is romanised under the Korean

Revised Romanisation System as eonnie, has some of the widest orthographic variation when

romanised into English. As fandom lexicon is disseminated through social media by speakers

of several varieties of English, it encourages an interactive discussion of the most appropriate

way of anglicising and rendering Korean origin lexicon in a way which fits in line with

orthographic conventions in English.

With this orthographic variation in mind, there is a notable variation in the first usage

of eonnie in English when searching for several orthographic renderings of the term. The

earliest appearance of the word comes from the same The Associated Press article from 1983

40
where oppa made an appearance where interestingly, it uses the romanised form of ‘Onni’

(Hwang, 1983). In a later article published in The Korean Herald in 2013, it makes its first

appearance in line with the Revised Romanisation of Korean as ‘eonnie’ (Park, 2013).

Surprisingly, the use of fandom standard romanised form ‘unnie’ predates this, appearing in

an obituary in the New York Times in 2003.

(ii) Romanisation systems and widespread orthographic variation

The Korean language currently has a number of romanisation systems, 3 of which are

the most well-known and widespread: The Revised Romanisation of Korean, McCune-

Reischauer and Yale31. The Yale romanisation system has become the established standard

for linguists, and McCune-Reischauer has not reached the levels of acceptance from internet

users owing to its use of diacritics and apostrophes. Following the creation of the Revised

Romanisation of Korean in 2000, it has since become the official system used in South Korea

which has led to its widespread acceptance online amongst English-speaking fans.

Despite the widespread acceptance of the Revised system, fans have still found

innovative ways of adjusting words which may not look as natural rendered in English. The

initial vowel sound in eonnie is the Korean “ㅓ” eo, the pronunciation falling awkwardly

between English ‘o’ and ‘u’, making it considerably difficult to romanise the word in a way

which reflects the sound accurately. Under the Revised Romanisation System, it is rendered

as ‘eo’ – a very uncommon initial sound for an English word in common usage – even the

most recognisable ‘eon’ isn’t exactly a word frequently encountered.

31
‘Romanization of Korean – Korean LII’ www.koreanlii.or.kr/w/index.php/Romanization_of_Korean
(Accessed 2018)

41
 Unbound by strict grammars and orthographic conventions on social media, the

international fandom has been involved in the interactive process of rendering romanised

forms to be more appropriate in English. The form unnie, sounding and reading much more

naturally than a word beginning with ‘eo’ has now become much more widespread.

As the early usage has shown however, this very early usage of unnie cannot

necessarily be attributed solely to the international fandom. From the period of 2003-2012,

unnie appears in 8 different obituaries from native English-speaking areas, primarily the U.S.

Thus, it is not unreasonable to assume that this early romanisation was in fact coined by the

Korean-American diaspora, who are often native speakers of English, as this usage heavily

predates the popularity in fandom usage.

Figure 8 Google Trends data for worldwide search popularity of “unnie” (blue) and “eonnie” (red)

As we can observe from the figure 8, whilst there are a number of early

similarities in popularity from 2004 through to 2008, the popularity of unnie begins to

increase massively over that of eonnie. This could perhaps be attributed to the fact that 2008

and 2009 were regarded as breakout years for the second-generation of idols, groups like

BIGBANG, Girls’ Generation and many others began to debut.

Despite the relative acceptance of unnie as the fandom standard, there are still a

number of other different variations which can be frequently found on comment threads and

42
on popular social media platforms. An analysis of comments on several Instagramposts by

Girls’ Generation member Taeyeon revealed ten different orthographic variations as follows:

eon, eonnie, unnie, unni, onni, oni, onnie, eunni, eunnie.

As mentioned previously, this vast variation could be owing to the English-

speaking international fandom compromising of fans not only in ‘native’ speaker areas such

as the U.S., UK or Canada, but also areas particularly in South East Asia where English is

taught as a second language – such as the Philippines, Singapore etc. ‘eo’ as an initial may

sound natural in some regions and ‘u’ or ‘o’ as an initial may sound more natural in others

according to different varieties of English.

(iii) The role of social media in the interactive discussion on orthographic

variation

This example seeks to illustrate how the relative freedom from grammar

conventions offered by social media allows fans to be involved in the process of romanising

Korean words in a way which not only suits English-speaking fans, but also their own

individual variety of English or personal preference in accordance with idiolect.

Whether eonnie begins with ‘eo’, ‘o’ or ‘u’ can be decided by the fans without

making the word unrecognisable. Fandom lexicon does not have to be bound by certain rules

necessary in official romanisation systems – highlighting the linguistic versatility offered by

the freedom of language prevalent on social media platforms, translingual promote the

constant discussion of appropriate orthographic and semantic changes.

43
III. Chingus or Friends? Korean-origin words and Fandom Cultural Capital

(i) Korean definition and early use of chingu in English

Despite the age-sensitive aspect of chingu not having the same importance as it does

in oppa, chingu ‘friend’ is used for somebody of a similar age. You could for example, cause

offence if you called somebody much older than you chingu, instead of using a more

appropriate respect term. Chingu can be used for somebody you have a close relationship

with, or by somebody older or of a similar age towards somebody younger to convey

closeness or intimacy32.

Chingu makes its first appearance in an English language newspaper in an article

published by the Korea Herald in 1999. The author, an Indian man, writes of his blossoming

friendship with a young Korean man. He is told “sir, you chingu. I discount”, along with

being affectionately touched on the hand (Tandon, 1999). Early use, therefore, is not too

dissimilar from the native Korean.

(ii) Chingu and Korean-origin lexicon as a form of fandom cultural capital

As the international fandom operate within a fandom community, often interacting

with other fans on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, or on forums such

as Allkpop and onehallyu, chingu is often used in to fan to fan interaction. Fans can form

close interpersonal relationships with each other, and often seek fellow fans to follow and

interact with. As well as being a community, fandom can also be considered as a social

32
‘Chingu Korean definition – Naver Dictionary’ http://krdic.naver.com/detail.nhn?docid=38346600 (Accessed
2018)

44
hierarchy – as fans compete over fandom specific knowledge to assert their place in the

fandom community and giving them fan cultural capital.

In the K-Pop fandom specifically, this fan cultural capital can perhaps be obtained

from a knowledge of Korean vocabulary. Through a versatile command of Korean

vocabulary, using Korean words in lieu of English – as in the case of chingu – fans can make

use of their diverse and multilingual linguistic repertoire, asserting their deep interest and

investment in K-Pop. Using chingu to address fellow fans can help enhance the connection

between fans and place further emphasis on the exclusivity of being a member of the K-Pop

fandom specifically, knowing Korean vocabulary can easily identify you as a member of the

fandom, and brings fans into the K-Pop fandom in-group. In October 2017, news site

Koreaboo posted an article with the title “13 Terms That Prove You’re A True K-Pop Fan”,

ten of which were Korean words 33.

This usage in a fan to fan context is distinct from the usage of kinship terminology with

specific cultural connotation such as oppa and unnie, which is primarily used in fan to idol

interaction. This identification of fellow fans as ‘friends’ can help strengthen the bonds

between fans who identify themselves as members of the fandom for a specific group or idol,

and the usage of the Korean chingu can help further place further emphasis on their specific

identity as fans of K-Pop.

(iii) “Chingus” and pluralisation according to English orthographic conventions

33
’13 Terms That Prove You’re A True K-Pop Fan – Koreaboo’ https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/13-terms-
prove-youre-true-k-pop-fan/ (Accessed 2018)

45
 Linguistically, fans also tend to pluralise chingu in line with English orthography.

Whilst it is possible to pluralise in Korean with the addition of the suffix deul, writing chingu

deul in romanisation when you want to address multiple people is long winded. As a result of

this, many fans instead choose to use chingus, adding ‘s’ at the end to symbolise

pluralisation, providing a simpler, more concise alternative.

Some examples collected from Twitter under the #chingus hashtag can help illustrate how the

word is used in an English context:

“This is the best thing on Earth! I love my #chingus”

“I love u my non-judgemental friends. #chingus”
“my chngz!! #chingus”

The plural suffix deul, having a grammatical function, is not as commonplace or well-

known amongst many fans as it is not identifiable as a single item of vocabulary much like a

noun or a verb would be. This use of the English pluralisation by adding ‘s’ to the end of an

otherwise Korean words is a fascinating aspect of the ways in which fandom seek to render

Korean-origin vocabulary palatable and easy to use in English on social media. Furthermore,

it further shows the interchangeability of ‘friends’ and ‘chingus’. In knowing that ‘friends’ is

the pluralised form of English ‘friend’, simply adding ‘s’ to chingu can replicate the English

‘friends’ without having to switch back to English.

IV: “I Love You So Much and Saranghaeyo!” Korean words providing cultural
affinity

(i) Popularity of saranghae

46
 One Korean phrase which has become especially prevalent in fandom lexicon is

saranghae, the verb for ‘to love’, which can be translated as ‘I love you’. Whilst many other

items of fandom lexicon which have been derived from Korean-origin vocabulary are usually

a case of cultural borrowing to express concepts which do not exist in English – such as the

usage of relational kinship terms unnie and oppa, the use of saranghae is one such case

where the fandom employ core borrowing in order to enrich fandom lexicon and enhance the

cultural affinity with their favourite idols. There is no additional layer of meaning in

saranghae which isn’t present in the English ‘I love you’.

Of the K-Dramas most popular amongst international fans, the majority centre around

a romance plotline34. Incredibly popular dramas such as Full House, Coffee Prince, My Love

from the Star and Descendants of the Sun all feature romance as a central plotline,

introducing countless numbers of international fans to the phrase saranghae. The use of

saranghae is also prevalent in K-Pop lyrics – in a search on popular lyric site Color Coded

Lyrics, from April 2010 to April 2018 there were a total of 8,255 results for the search term

saranghae35.

There is little doubt that saranghae would be a frequently heard phrase by those

consuming Korean media. On a comment thread on a Facebook post by Allkpop, 20 out of 76

commenters noted that the first Korean word they had learnt was saranghae, which was the

most common word. Owing to this prevalence in the Korean media, saranghae has become

34
’15 Most Popular K-Dramas Among International Fans – Koreaboo’ https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/15-
most-popular-k-dramas-among-international-fans/ (Accessed 2018)
35
https://colorcodedlyrics.com (Accessed 2018) Color Coded lyrics provides Hanguel, romanisation and
English translations of lyrics to K-Pop songs, including singles and album tracks. Please note that saranghae
can often be repeated several times throughout a single song and the search results reflect this.

47
something of a buzzword in fandom lexicon, highly versatile and easily attached to any

sentence.

Saranghae, similar to previous case studies, also features variation in orthographic rendering.

The following variations have all been observed from comments made on social media:

saranghee, saranghea, sarang, saranghye, saranghae, saranghaeyo

(ii) Saranghae providing cultural affinity and closeness with idols

Most foreign-born words which enter English are usually nouns, and in terms of

Korean words in English, these are usually referential terms such as kimchi, soju or bibimbap.

Saranghae is a verb, and it is an emotive verb expressing love. Its frequency in fandom

lexicon undoubtedly has ties to fandom culture and the love fans often feel for their favourite

idols. Through using such an emotive term in Korean as opposed to English though there is

additional layer of meaning in saranghae which isn’t present in ‘I love you’, fans are able to

express their love through the language of their idols and increase emotional bonds and feel

‘closer’ to their idols.

Chapter 5: Individual Case Studies of ‘Hybrid Words’: Girl

Crush, Skinship, Hearteu and Oh My Godeu

48
I. The curious case of the Girl Crush: from English to Korean and back again

(i) Early usage of Girl Crush in English

“Girl Crush” is a phrase which developed in the early 2000s in the English language

and data from the GloWbE shows that out of a total 105 hits for “Girl Crush”, 77 hits were

from native English-speaking countries. Being a slang term, one of the earliest usages is from

2003 in an article in the New York Observer (Marshall, 2003). A girl crush is defined as a

“nonsexual mating ritual” and that it is the first step towards friendship with a fellow woman.

Despite the use of ‘crush’, which has romantic connotations, the phrase is used by

women to express a distinctively platonic admiration or aspiration to be like another woman.

Rather than suggesting that they have a romantic crush, the admiration is more akin to a

desire to be friends. It is often used in regard to popular female celebrities who exhibit

admirable or attractive traits. The phrase is most frequently used as a term of address, for

example: “__ is my girl crush” and is additionally used as #girlcrush on Twitter and

Instagram.

The phrase has drawn considerable controversy in the queer community, especially

amongst women who identify as lesbian. The explicitly platonic meaning attached to the

phrase suggests that the usage of ‘girl crush’ is a way for heterosexual women to assert that

even though they have some level of admiration towards another woman, it is strictly non-

sexual. This has led to the phrase to be associated with internalized homophobia, much like

the male equivalent ‘no homo’, as it suggests that any same sex admiration must be implicitly

separated from romantic attraction. Despite this, the phrase is still used frequently on social

media.

49
 (ii) The spread of Girl Crush to Korean: semantic change and adjectival use

The word began to enter Korean fairly recently and is now largely credited with the

girl group MAMAMOO. Their 2016 single “You’re the Best”, the lead single from their

album Melting was released to critical acclaim and cemented their position as a popular girl

group. On the same album featured a track called “Girl Crush”, with the lyrics placing an

emphasis on being cool, awesome and sexy as opposed to innocent or cute36.

Figure 9 Google Trends data showing search frequency for “걸크러쉬 girl crush” in South Korea

These lyrics about seeming cool, independent and sexy as opposed to cute and

innocent are representative of the semantic change the phrase has undergone. Girl crush in

fandom lexicon has now become an adjective, used to describe a certain type of girl, or a

certain type of concept. Certain idols have become associated with the girl crush aesthetic,

and certain groups, particularly MAMAMOO, are frequently regarded as a “girl crush

group”. Much like how in the original English definition of girl crush, the girl crush concept

is designed to appeal to female fans as opposed to male.

36
‘Mamamoo Girl Crush lyrics’ https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2015/09/mamamoo-mamamu-girl-crush
(Accessed 2018)

50
Figure 10 Poster for a “girl crush concert” featuring Sistar and MAMAMOO

The girl crush concept has become commonplace in a number of girl groups and has

become synonymous with groups with a larger number of female fans than male. In English

usage, we can now observe these two different versions of girl crush existing synonymously,

as the Korean adjectival use of “girl crush” has entered back into the English language having

been mediated through fandom lexicon.

(iii) Girl Crush re-enters English as a ‘boomerang’ word

Girl crush is now on its way to becoming a “boomerang word” – a word which has

been altered in a foreign language and then returned back to its origin language. In this case,

girl crush originated in English slang usage, before undergoing semantic change in Korean

adding an adjectival usage and then returning to English through fandom lexicon. Data

collected from the GloWbE showed the widest geographical spread of any word featured in

this study – girl crush was common in native speaker countries, with the highest frequency

51
coming from the US and Australia, but additionally it observed usage frequency in a number

of Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

II. Skinship: cultural concept of platonic intimacy or expression of romantic

interest?

(i) Origins of Skinship and early English usage

Skinship has had an interesting journey being mediated through Japanese and English

before settling into English. The exact origin of skinship is unclear – but earliest sources

suggested that it originated in Japanese as wasei eigo37 – a Japanese coined English word.

Having originated in Japan before migrating to Korea then to the international fandom

through the Korean Wave, skinship has now become a mainstay of fandom lexicon used on

social media. Skinship is a blended word formed of the noun “skin” and the suffix “-ship”,

bringing to thought words expressing some level of personal intimacy such as “relationship”,

“friendship” and “kinship”. The etymological origin of skinship expresses that skinship is the

“physical intimacy of the skin”.

Skinship appears in English language material for the first time in a 1974 article by

Donald L. Smith about “Ingrish” (Japanese English), where it is simply defined as the

“physical contact between mother and child”. A further article published by The Associated

Press in 1982 makes reference to the “skinship of public bathing” (Abrams, 1982).

37 和製英語 wasei-eigo literally translated “Japanese-made English” are Japanese language expressions based on
English

52
 (ii) Skinship in a Korean context

The first time skinship crops up in a Korean context is in a Korea Herald article

published in 1999, where it is described as “the Korean affinity for touching one another”

(Sullivan, 1999). From these definitions, we can see that skinship is a form of physical

intimacy, with an emphasis on skin to skin contact. The early definitions in a Japanese

context suggest special reference to communal bathing and physical intimacy between

mother and child, but in the first definition in a Korean context we see the addition of this

idea that in Korean culture there exists an “affinity for touching one another”, and this is what

constitutes skinship.

Skinship can be used in and out of a platonic context to suggest a very specific type of

physical intimacy – two women or two men, for example, could perform acts of skinship

together, as could a boyfriend and girlfriend.

(iii) Skinship in English as fandom lexicon

So-called ‘shipping’ (supporting two individuals in a usually romantic but sometimes

platonic relationship) of same-sex idols is prevalent in the international K-Pop fandom,

particularly in the West, due to more liberal and relaxed ideas about homosexuality and sex.

Same-sex fanfiction, where fans imagine idols in certain romantic situations or in

relationships with each other is incredibly popular. On site Asianfanfics, which is dedicated

to fanfiction of predominantly Asian media such as manga, anime or K-Dramas, there are a

total of 9,528 K-Pop fanfictions – many of which are same-sex38.

38
‘Kpop tag – Asianfanfics’ https://www.asianfanfics.com/browse/tag/kpop (Accessed 2018)

53
 Owing to the cultural differences of haptic communication through skinship in Korea

and the West, skinship performed by same-sex idols can often be interpreted as an act of

homosexual intimacy by members of the international fandom. This can be evident in the

recent popularity of ‘shipping’ MAMAMOO members Moonbyul and Solar, who are dubbed

by fans as ‘Moonsun’. Searching their two names on Google will instantly pull up ‘Solar

Moonbyul dating’. Skinship can encompass physical interactions from an embrace, to

touching the thigh, to a gentle caress, and in many cases, fans can read into these touches

something beyond friendship. On the onehallyu forum, a thread dedicated to Moonsun

created in 2015 has a total of 990 pages, which is primarily dedicated to ‘shipping’ them as a

lesbian couple39.

Examples collected from Twitter under the #skinship hashtag can further illustrate this usage:

“chen's skinship is too gentle (again, baek let chen did it) wonder what were you guys

talking to? this is too romantic #baekchen”

“Was Jinyoung's hand creeping in Mark's pocket for warmth, or also for skinship?

#markjin”

“This #skinship king... he just wanna touch everyone right =.= #MyungSoo oh but he did hug

#SungYeol first lol. #MyungYeol #NotComplaining”

All of the three Tweets above refer to same-sex relationships between male idols,

implicated by the usage of shipping names: #baekchen, #markjin and #MyungYeol. Skinship

has a decidedly romantic connotation in all of the above Tweets.

39
‘Official Moonsun Thread – onehallyu’ https://onehallyu.com/topic/250849-☾-official-moonsun-thread-☀-
south-koreas-1-mango-juice-consumers-happy-two-years/ (Accessed 2018)

54
 (iv) What is Skinship? Skinship as a translingual Asian-born word

Skinship has had a truly exemplary journey as a translingual word – it was coined as

Japanese-born English before making its way into Korean. During this journey it began to

amass layers of meaning – it was linked with the “Korean affinity for touching each other”

and additionally began to gain platonic usages between same-sex friends and then romantic

usages between couples in both the Japanese and Korean. Then, when skinship finally began

to settle into English, it became associated with same-sex romantic touching, effectively

merging this platonic and romantic usage together. Skinship is without a doubt representative

of the multi-faceted and complex linguistic identities of translingual words.

III. Oh my Godeu my Hearteu! The ‘eu’ suffix and Koreanization of English

words

(i) Origins of the ‘eu’ suffix

In 2014, the Bangtan Subs (verified YouTube channel of BTS fan translator group

BTS Trans) posted a video titled “Let’s Speak English!”, featuring the members of BTS

heading to LA to perform at KCon and speaking English together 40. As the members are

travelling to America, BTS member J-Hope encourages the members to speak in English

together. The video has gained notoriety in the BTS fandom for J-Hope’s pronunciation of

certain English words. In particular, his pronunciation of the English words speak, face, self,

heart and god.

40
‘Let’s Speak English! – Bangtan Subs YouTube’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOzGzRkLCM
(Accessed 2018)

55
 (ii) ‘eu’ adjusting English words in line with Korean phonology and examples

One thing which the majority of these words have in common is that they end in

aspirated consonant stops in English: k, t and d respectively. In Korean phonology, a similar

sound is difficult to emulate, and subsequently, many English origin words which end in

these consonant stops will be followed by the Korean vowel ㅡ eu in order to render the

words in a way which is closer to the English pronunciation. Take for example the English

word heart. In Korean heart is written as 하트 hateu, ending in the Korean vowel ㅡ eu, as

opposed to the aspirated t ending in English.

As a result of this phonological difference between English and Korean, J-Hope, a

native Korean non-English speaker pronounced the words listed above as speakEU, facEU,

heartEU and godEU respectively. English-speaking international fans, recognising these as

English origin words pronounced according to Korean phonology, have come to associate the

addition of the “eu” at the end of English origin words as a marker of Koreanness.

Figure 11 Example of a meme featuring the word “faceu”

56
 Whilst this usage is largely attributed to the BTS fandom owing to its supposed origin

from the Let’s Speak English! video, there have also been instances of blinkeu being used to

refer to the official fandom name “Blink” of the YG Entertainment girl group BLACKPINK.

Countless examples of international fans using the “eu” suffix can be found on

Twitter – added to a number of different English words, not just those featured in the BTS

video. Research data collated from a number of different platforms including Twitter,

YouTube comments and popular English language forums such as onehallyu and AllKpop

brought up the following examples:

Hearteu, godeu, blinkeu, faceu, speakeu, thingeu, los angeleseu, tiredeu, inteureodeuceu,

snakeu, steakeu

(iii) ‘eu’ as Koreanisation of English words

Through attaching the “eu” suffix to English words, the international fandom is

adding an additional layer of meaning to the word itself – it is no longer simply the English

word speak or heart, it additionally has this element of Koreanness through the “eu” suffix

implying that it is the word as spoken according to Korean phonology.

57
Chapter 6: Conclusion

The case studies outlined in this study present a number of different ways in which

fandom lexicon is formed. Oppa provides an example of a translingual word used to express

a key cultural concept which is not present in English. We cannot say it is a ‘borrowed’ or

‘loaned’ word as its identity as a translingual word gives it multifaceted and extensive layers

of meaning. Unnie shows the role social media and fandom can play in the interactive

discussion of rendering Korean-origin terms orthographically, as does the pluralisation of

chingu according to English pluralisation standards. Girl Crush, despite being English-origin,

has now become a ‘boomerang word’ used with two different meanings simultaneously, and

‘eu’ has become synonymous with ‘Koreanness’. Thus, we can see that there a number of

different linguistic processes involved in the formation of fandom lexicon.

As exemplified in the case studies presented in this study, the mediation of Korean-

origin words in particular through fandom and as a part of fandom lexicon has played an

integral and important role in the translingual journeys of these words. For example, we now

cannot simply say that oppa exists in the Korean language – as it now exists in English with a

whole host of new dynamic and individualised meaning. Not only does has oppa effectively

crossed the nation state borders which exist between languages, it has additionally gained

new layers of meaning not present in the Korean definition, cementing its status as a

translingual word which exists in world englishes.

English is an incredibly diverse language which is representative of the shift of our

lexicon to a diverse, multilingual lexicon by which words do not need to be defined by their

linguistic origin or their place of birth. As the lingua franca of our time, many English words

58
have gained localised meanings across the world and in world englishes – as this research

shows, we cannot judge the forms and meanings of words used across languages from one

single branch of English speakers – in this case the ‘privileged’ so-called ‘native speakers’.

This process of lexical migration is not unlike the migration of people from place to

place – they carry the identity of their place of birth, but also adapt themselves into new

environments. There is now a more complex and nuanced meaning behind these words as

they adopt a diversified linguistic identity.

We have seen that the grammatical freedom offered by social media has not only

allowed fans to receive these words – but also play an integral role in the dynamic and active

process of meaning making and discussion of appropriate form. In our increasingly

interconnected and globalised world, social media brings fans from diverse linguistic

backgrounds operating in a community together, as well as promoting a new level of

interactivity in the way in which we receive and use foreign-born words in an increasingly

multilingual English.

This process of lexical discussion occurring on online media as opposed to offline

shows how quickly foreign-born words can enter our language and how the mediation of

foreign-born words is now a collaborative, interactive as dynamic process which can occur

over a matter of years. Translingual words are the future of our lexicon, and as this study has

illustrated, they offer a new outlook on our language and foreign-born lexicon seeks to enrich

and diversify our lexicon – not corrupt linguistic purity. We do not have to think of these

Korean-origin words in a purely singular Korean context anymore, we can consider them as

an integral part of a globalised, multilingual English too.

59
Bibliography
☾ Official Moonsun Thread ☀ - South Korea's #1 Mango Juice Consumers; HAPPY TWO
YEARS! - Couples/OTPs. (2015, November 26). Retrieved from
https://onehallyu.com/topic/250849-☾-official-moonsun-thread-☀-south-koreas-1-mango-
juice-consumers-happy-two-years/

5 Hair Cuts You Need To Try If You Want To Be A True Oppa. (2017, November 26).
Retrieved from https://www.koreaboo.com/buzz/5-hair-cuts-need-try-want-true-oppa/

13 Terms That Prove You're A True K-Pop Fan. (2017, October 11). Retrieved from
https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/13-terms-prove-youre-true-k-pop-fan/

15 Most Popular K-Dramas Among International Fans. (2018, March 10). Retrieved from
https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/15-most-popular-k-dramas-among-international-fans/

Abrams, J. (1982, September 16). TODAY'S FOCUS: Communal Baths Being Sunk By High
Costs, Affluence. The Associated Press. Retrieved May 20, 2018 from
www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

Acton, D. (2013, November 05). 101 Korean pop culture words you absolutely MUST know.
Retrieved from https://www.dramafever.com/news/101-korean-pop-culture-words-you-
absolutely-must-know/

Ahn, J., Oh, S., & Kim, H. (2013). Korean pop takes off! Social media strategy of Korean
entertainment industry. 2013 10th International Conference on Service Systems and Service
Management. doi:10.1109/icsssm.2013.6602528

AsianFanfics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.asianfanfics.com/browse/tag/kpop

Bangtan Translations (@BTS_Trans). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bts_trans?lang=en

Benjamin, J. (2012, February 01). Girls' Generation Makes Big U.S. Debut on 'Letterman':
Watch. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/viral-
videos/508237/girls-generation-makes-big-us-debut-on-letterman-watch

Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity
Pr.

BTS' 'Fake Love' Music Video Has the Biggest 24-Hour YouTube Debut of 2018. (2018,
May 21). Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8457053/bts-fake-
love-music-video-biggest-24-hour-youtube-debut-2018

Chang, S. (1972). A Generative Study Of Discourse With Special Reference To Korean And
English (Order No. 7309899). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
(302618179). Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/302618179?accountid=13042

60
Cho, S. (1998, August 03). Seoul Searcher; Hand Phone Craze. The Korea Herald. Retrieved
May 20, 2018, from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

Corpus of Web-Based Global English. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://corpus.byu.edu/glowbe/

Chua, B. H., & Iwabuchi, K. (2008). East Asian pop culture: Analysing the Korean wave.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Crystal, D. (2017). Language and the internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Eckert, P. (2012). Three Waves of Variation Study: The Emergence of Meaning in the Study
of Sociolinguistic Variation. Annual Review of Anthropology, 41(1), 87-100.
doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828

Freedman, A., & Slade, T. (2018). Introducing Japanese popular culture. London:
Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.

Fuhr, M. (2017). Globalization and popular music in South Korea: Sounding out K-Pop.
London: Routledge.

Google Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US

Hills, M. (2002). Fan cultures. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

How BTS Took Over the World: A Timeline of The Group's Biggest Career Moments.
(2018, May 14). Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-
town/8455612/bts-takeover-timeline-bbmas

Hwang, K. (1983, July 19). TODAY'S TOPIC: Popular Korean Television Show Reunites
Families. The Associated Press. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

J. (2013, November 10). PSY - Gangnam Style (강남스타일). Retrieved from

https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2012/07/psy-gangnam-style-gangnamseutail

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in
a networked culture. New York: New York University Press.

Jin, D. Y., & Yoon, K. (2014). The social mediascape of transnational Korean pop culture:
Hallyu 2.0 as spreadable media practice. New Media & Society, 18(7), 1277-1292.
doi:10.1177/1461444814554895

Kachru, B. B. (1986). The power and politics of English. World Englishes, 5(2-3), 121-140.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-971x.1986.tb00720.x

Kang, H. (2018, March 02). BTS pave way for K-pop golden age in US, doing what Psy
couldn't. Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2127984/bts-pave-way-
k-pop-golden-age-us-achieving-what-psy-and-wonder-girls

61
KBS. (2008). BoA Again Tops Oricon Chart. Retrieved from
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_musicnews_detail.htm?No=7184¤t_page=26
0

Kiaer, J. (forthcoming). Translingual Words: An East Asian Lexical Encounter with English.
London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Kiaer, J., & Bordilovskaya, A. (2017). Hybrid English words in Korean and Japanese: A
strange brew or an asset for global English? Asian Englishes, 19(2), 169-187.
doi:10.1080/13488678.2016.1278116

Kim, C. (2012). K-pop: Roots and blossoming of Korean popular music, 98-121. Seoul,
South Korea: Hollym.

Kim, S. (2017, August 22). The $4.7 Billion K-Pop Industry Chases Its 'Michael Jackson
Moment'. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-22/the-4-7-
billion-k-pop-industry-chases-its-michael-jackson-moment

Kim, W. (2016). KPOP Dictionary: 500 Essential K-Pop & K-Drama Vocabulary &
Examples Every Fan Must Know. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Korean Dramas Continue to Captivate the Philippines. (2009, September 06). Retrieved from
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/09/117_51344.html

Korean Idol Lee Kikwang Does Blackface. (2010, July 24). Retrieved from
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49233603.html

K-Pop. (2018). Retrieved from https://open.spotify.com/genre/kpop-page

Kpop Groups Youtube Records - Charts and Sales. (2016, April 27 updated May 2018).
Retrieved from https://onehallyu.com/topic/320184-kpop-groups-youtube-records/

Lee, S., & Nornes, M. (2015). Hallyu 2.0: The Korean wave in the age of social media. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Lipshutz, J. (2012, November 24). PSY's 'Gangnam Style' Now Most-Watched YouTube
Video of All Time. Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/psys-gangnam-
style-video-youtubes-393839

Marinescu, V. (2016). The global impact of South Korean popular culture: Hallyu unbound.
Lexington Books.

Marshall, A. (2003, September 15). The Girl Crush: Manhattan Minxes Fall Under
Spell. New York Observer. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

Number of worldwide social network users 2010-2021 | Statistic. Retrieved from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/

Page, R. E. (2014). Researching language and social media: A student guide. London:
Routledge Taylor&Francis Group.

62
 Park, S. (2013, June 13). Personal beauty consultants target young women. The Korea
Herald. Retrieved May 25, 2018, from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

Pearson, R. (2010). Fandom in the Digital Era. Popular Communication, 8(1), 84-95.
doi:10.1080/15405700903502346
Oppapologist. Retrieved from
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=oppapologist

Oppar. Retrieved from http://kpopdictionary.tumblr.com/post/29041569867

Romanization of Korean. Retrieved from

http://www.koreanlii.or.kr/w/index.php/Romanization_of_Korean?ckattempt=1

SEVENTEEN (@saythename_17) • Instagram photos and videos. Retrieved from

https://www.instagram.com/saythename_17/?hl=en

Shin, H., & Yi, S. (2017). Made in Korea studies in popular music, chapter 4. New York,
NY: Routledge.

Smith, D. L. (1974). Ribbing Ingrish: Innovative Borrowing in Japanese. American Speech,

49(3/4), 185. doi:10.2307/3087797

Stanish, D. (2013, September 03). Fangirl Isn't a Dirty Word. Retrieved from
https://www.apex-magazine.com/fangirl-isnt-a-dirty-word/

Sullivan, J. (1999, August 10). 'Maximum Korea' offers author's personal observations. The
Korea Herald. Retrieved May 20, 2018 from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

TaeYeon (@taeyeon_ss) • Instagram photos and videos. Retrieved from

https://www.instagram.com/taeyeon_ss/

Tandon, A. (1999, August 28). My Korean friend. The Korea Herald. Retrieved May 20,
2018, from www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis

The most popular Korean celebrities on Instagram this year. (2017, December 12). Retrieved
from https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2017/12/12/most-popular-korean-celebrities-
instagram-year

Thornton, S. (1995). Club cultures: Music, media and subcultural capital. Cambridge: Polity
Press.

What are K-pop fans like? According to this survey they're actually pretty cool. (2016,
January 09). Retrieved from http://beyondhallyu.com/k-pop/what-are-k-pop-fans-like-
according-to-this-survey-theyre-actually-pretty-cool/

What's the cringiest thing you've seen kpop fans do? - Random. (2016, March 21). Retrieved
from https://onehallyu.com/topic/302509-whats-the-cringiest-thing-youve-seen-kpop-fans-
do/

63

View publication stats