New Internet-speak baffles users

Internet language is evolving faster than the public’s ability to understand it. In a survey conducted by online recruitment portal Saramin, 73.5 percent of the 855 workers surveyed said they had trouble understanding newly-coined Internet buzzwords. Almost 70 percent replied that they have secretly searched online for their meaning.
The most unfamiliar word for respondents was “solkkamal,” an abbreviated term made up of the first syllables of the words used in the Korean phrase “soljikhi kkanoko malhae,” meaning tell the truth. A total of 78.4 percent of respondents said they did not know what this term meant.
Other terms, including “jeongjulno,” short for “jeongsinjul noeun saram” which means crazy person, “heumjommu,” an abbreviated term for “hmm, igae sasiliramyeon jom museopgun” or “it would be scary if that were true,” and the English word “newbie,” meaning newcomer, followed “solkkamal” as confusing new terms.

By Cho Jae-eun Staff Reporter [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]