The weather the past few days has become rediculously cold. So in addition to busting out parkas and scarves, Korean girls have busted out the following expression, “오…추워!” (Oh it’s cold!) Of course Korean girls aren’t the only ones who comment on temperature, but the way they do it is something I have not encountered elsewhere in the world. Let’s look at two examples.
Scene 1: It’s 0 degrees outside. I exit a cafe with a male friend and have a 10 minute walk back to my house.
ME: Man it’s cold.
FRIEND: Yeah.
ME: Let’s hurry.
FRIEND: Alright.
After that exchange nothing more will be said of the weather, unless some condition changes. (ie. It suddenly becomes windy, or starts snowing.)
Scene 2: It’s 0 degrees outside. I exit a cafe with my girlfriend and have a 10 minute walk back to my house.
GIRLFRIEND: Oh it’s cold.
ME: Yeah let’s hurry.
GIRLFRIEND: Oh it’s cold…Ok let’s hurry.
After this, my girlfriend will repeat “It’s cold,” roughly every 14 seconds to no one in particular.
I pick on “오 추워,” but really any adjective can be used: “Oh I’m hungry!”(배고파!), “Oh it’s hot…”(오…더워.)
I asked several people about it. First I asked my girlfriend why she was constantly saying it was cold. We were alone, I knew it was cold, she knew it was cold…so I inquired who she was tell it was cold. At first she didn’t even realize she was doing it. It was just a habitual behavior. After I brought it to her attention, she realized how often she did it, but could offer no rational reason as to why she was doing it. I asked her if she were to stop the constant proclaimations of “Oh it’s cold,” would she forget that it actual was cold which would result in some serious trouble. She said she that this was not the case, but could offer no other explaination, so I went to another source.
I next asked a male Korean friend about it. He told me that it was his opinion that girls did it to be cute. I asked if it was like the whiney, “오빠~~~” thing most girls do to be cute, but in reality are just annoying (thank god my girlfriend is older than me so I don’t have to hear that thing), and he said that was the case.
So I believe I have solved this mystery, but if you are Korean (or not Korean) and want to give me a different opinion feel free to do so, but for now I’ll leave you with this message to the women of Korea.
한국여자들, “오…추워!” 많이 말하는것이 안 귀여워요. 그말이 진짜 안 좋아요.
