Professors Pick Idiom of the Year

“Mil Un Bul Woo” was chosen as the four-character idiom of the year that best describes Korea in the year 2006.

The Professors Newspaper conducted a survey on 208 people, including writers of the Professors Newspaper and columnists of major daily newspapers who are also professors. According to the survey, 48.6 percent of the respondents answered “Mil Un Bul Woo” as the idiom that best describes Korea’s politics, economics and society.

The phrase “Mil Un Bul Woo” which appears on The Book of Changes refers to “thick clouds without rain.” The proverb is used to describe a situation full of anxiety and dissatisfaction because things do not work out despite a favorable environment.

“Discounted people from all walks of life are about to burst with rage due to the president’s leadership crisis and disappearance of win-win politics,” the paper said. “The problems of Korean politics and economics, including skyrocketing real estate prices and the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, which have only caused conflicts because the government has pushed it without a sufficient public consensus, were the main reasons that the surveyed people picked this idiom as this year’s four character phase,” the paper added.

Following the “Mil Un Bul Woo,” 22.1 percent of respondents chose “Gyo Gak Sal Woo,” which literally means “the death of a cow while trying to alter the direction of its horns.” The idiom reflects a devastated country due to an ill-prepared reform. 11.1 percent of the surveyed picked “Man Sa Hyu Eui,” meaning “all hope is lost.” The phrase reflects the gloomy future of Korean society that shows no signs of recovery. 9.1 percent of the surveyed chose “Dang Rang Geo Cheol,” which literally describes “a wart trying to block a wagon with its forearms.” The idiom implies incompetent Korean politicians fighting against people with vested rights without proper strategies and tactics.

The letter proverb of last year was “Sang Hwa Ha Taek.” The phrase literally means “above fire, below water,” illustrating a disruption due to their contrasting natures since fire has tendency to go up and water has tendency to go down.

The Professors Newspaper has selected the four-character idiom of the year since 2001 by surveying professors. Meanwhile, the surveyed professors chose North Korea’s nuclear test (23.1 percent) and the failure of the real estate policies (18.3 percent) as the most regrettable things took place in Korean society this year.

When asked about the most pleasant things happened in Korean society in 2006, half of the surveyed either did not respond or said “nothing,” and 21.2 percent of them picked the appointment of former Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as the new Secretary General of the United Nations.

crystal@donga.com