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Expressions using our body-Korean

5 years ago
Hello everyone!

We Korean have some expressions using our body as follows. Do you guys have any similar expressions in your country?

1. Feet are wide (발이 넓다): It literally means "Feet are wide", and the real meaning is that "The range of where your feet step on, i.e. the range of your personal relationship is wide".So, if we say "That guy has a wide feet", it doesn't mean "his physical size of feet are wide", but means "He has lots of acquaintances and the range of his personal relationship is wide".​
2. Hands are big (손이 크다): It literally means "Hands are big", and the real meaning is that "The scale or the amount of what you are doing, making, or the money you spend is big".So, for example, if I say "my mom's hands are big", it means, when she cooks, the amount of the food she cooks is so big, so she always gives us too many food more than we could eat usually. Also, if I say "my hands are big", it means like "when I buy something, I buy a lot of amount of products, or I don't usually hesitate to pay, and I have a very powerful driving force when I buy something".

3.Ears are thin (귀가 얇다): It literally means "Ears are thin", and the real meaning is that "Someone believes or trusts what other people say so easily, and very easy to be persuaded and influenced by others". So someone having thin ears changes his/her mind so easily according to who the person listens to and is easily rooked by others.

4. Mouth is short (입이 짧다) : It literally means "Mouth is short", and the real meaning is that "Someone is not a heavy eater at all but a picky eater, and usually eats very small amount of food at one time and feels full so easily".
5. Mouth feels bored (입이 심심하다): It literally means "Mouth is bored", and the real meaning is that "It's not being hungry but I feel like some snack or something", so it's normally light snacks not heavy meals or something.
6. Stomach is sick (배가 아프다): It can be used when you really have a stomachache, but another common meaning is "To feel envy or jealous of someone's success, and that is why you get sick in your stomach". And this idiom is from the old saying "You got sick in your stomach when your nephew buy lands".