[윤희영의 News English] 한국에서 '꼰대'란 무엇인가

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• 윤희영 편집국 에디터

입력 2019.06.04 03:11 | 수정 2019.06.04 06:51

"'거들먹거리는 나이 든 사람(condescending old person)'을 뜻하는 단어." 경제 전문지 '이코노미스트'가 '꼰대' 표현을 빌려 위계질서에 저항하는(struggle against hierarchy) 한국 젊은이들의 세태를 묘사했다.

젊은 사람의 패션 선택이나 애정 생활에 청하지도 않은 충고를 한다?(offer unsolicited advice on their fashion choices or love lives), 아랫사람이 커피를 갖다 주지 않으면 짜증이 난다?(be irked) 꼰대 영역에 이미 들어섰다는(be well into kkondae territory) 방증이다.

어원이 불확실한 현대어(modern word of uncertain origin)인 '꼰대'는 아랫사람들의 절대적 복종을 바라는(expect unquestioning obedience) 나이 든 남성을 주로 지칭한다. 이들은 남을 비난하는 데는 잽싸면서(be quick to criticize others) 자기 잘못은 결코 인정하지(admit his own mistake) 않는다. 자신의 권위에 도전하는 자에겐 보복을 가한다(retaliate against them).

자아도취적 직장 상사(narcissistic boss), 고압적인 아저씨(overbearing uncle), 부패한 정치인(corrupt politician)이 대표적 꼰대들이다. 한국 젊은이들은 이제 나이가 많다는 이유만으로 존중받는 것을 당연하게 여기지(take their respect for granted) 말라고 그들에게 항변한다.

한국은 나이, 성, 근속 연수(length of service)에 따른 숨 막히는 직장 위계질서로 악명 높다(be notorious for its suffocating workplace hierarchies). 올바른 경칭을 쓰지 않으면(fail to use the correct honorific) 격분한다(be enraged). 일과 후 술자리나 주말 산행 권유를 거절하는(decline invitations to after-work drinking sessions or weekend hiking expeditions) 것은 항명으로 받아들여진다.

위계질서 제약에 대한 공공연한 반란(open rebellion against hierarchical strictures)은 아직 드물고 못마땅히 여겨지고 있지만(be rare and frowned upon), 곳곳에서 이의를 제기하기 시작했다. 퇴근 후 한잔도 싫으면 싫다고 말한다.

민주주의가 정착하기 시작한 정치 문화, 세월호 사고 당시 선원 대부분은 도망가고 그대로 가만히 있으라는 지시를 따랐던(follow instructions to stay put) 학생 304명은 몰사하면서 불거진 맹종(blind obedience)의 위험성도 꼰대 거부감을 부추겼다(instigate a repulsion toward them).

하지만 한국의 꼰대 갈등은 하룻밤 사이에 사라질 것 같지 않다(be unlikely to disappear overnight). 꼰대를 비하하던 젊은이 자신이 나이 들어 꼰대가 되고, 과거 꼰대들이 누렸던 존중과 경의를 갈망하는 처지가 될(find themselves yearning for the kind of d eference) 수도 있다. 그럴 경우 미래의 젊은 세대가 그렇게 새 꼰대들이 하고 싶은 대로 하게 놔둘지도(let them get away with it) 의문이다."

[영문 참고자료 사이트]
☞ https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/05/30/the-word-for-condescending-old-person-in-korean

출처 : http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/06/03/2019060303041.html

BanyanThe word for “condescending old person” in Korean

What “kkondae” reveals about young South Koreans’ struggle against hierarchy

Print edition | Asia

May 30th 2019

DO YOU FEEL that nobody around you shares your commitment to work? Do you offer unsolicited advice on the fashion choices or

love lives of your younger colleagues? Are you irked when a junior office-mate fails to fetch you coffee? Beware: you are well into

kkondae territory. South Korean youngsters suggest that you engage in quiet reflection to help you overcome your inflated sense of

self-importance. You have to earn their respect. You cannot take it for granted just because you are older.

Kkondae is a modern word of uncertain origin—perhaps an adaptation of the English word “condescend”. It means an older person,

usually a man, who expects unquestioning obedience from people who are junior. A kkondae is quick to criticise but will never admit his own mistakes. He retaliates against people who challenge his authority. South Koreans apply the word to everyone from narcissistic

bosses to overbearing uncles and corrupt politicians. There are websites offering tests of kkondae-ness and tips on how to avoid the

condition. A television channel recently dedicated a talk show to discussion of it.

South Korea is notorious for its suffocating workplace hierarchies based on age, sex and length of service. Many South Koreans are outraged when younger colleagues or relatives fail to use the correct honorific to address them. It is difficult for office workers to decline

invitations to after-work drinking sessions or weekend hiking expeditions with the boss. During the lunar new year and autumn harvest

festivals, women grudgingly spend days cooking and cleaning at their husband’s parents’ homes, with no help from the men. “I have to help my mother, and my brother just sits there doing nothing,” says Park Ji-soo, a 24-year-old student. “Everyone thinks this is

completely normal.”

However, the popularity of kkondae as an insult is a sign of change. Open rebellion against hierarchical strictures is still rare and frowned upon. But young people are beginning to question authority. Ms Park says she stands up to her brother, if not her older relatives.

Women report that they feel a bit less pressure than before to defer to men. Mothers can even persuade their husbands to hold their

babies in public and (less frequently) to help with housework. Some youngsters, nudged along by the recent introduction of a 52-hour

legal limit to the work week, are starting to say “no” to boozing after work. In private they are also paying more attention to their individual needs and less to gaining society’s approval, says Cho Han Hae-joang, an anthropologist at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Education partly explains this shift. Younger people tend to have more of it than their elders. That gives them greater power to challenge the kkondae, says Moon Seung-sook of Vassar College in America. But like their peers elsewhere, young South Koreans also feel

insecure. Lee Do-hoon, a sociologist also at Yonsei University, thinks that those who have come of age in the past two decades have a sense of precariousness because of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 and the global one a decade later. They fear that even a good education will not guarantee them security or status. That makes them chafe all the more at a social order which some think is rigged

against them.

South Korea’s evolving political culture has been making an impact, too. Since democracy began to take hold in the country in the late 1980s, belief in universal rights, including people’s right to be treated equally, has become stronger. This has encouraged people to question their deference to others. The death of 304 people when a ferry sank five years ago also caused soul-searching about the dangers of blind obedience. Most of the victims were high-school students who drowned after following instructions to stay put (most crew members abandoned ship early on). The government’s botched response to the disaster triggered mass demonstrations which led to the

impeachment and conviction for corruption of Park Geun-hye, who was then South Korea’s president.

An ancient culture of authority is unlikely to disappear overnight. Young people are becoming more willing to challenge hierarchy, but

what will happen as they get older? Some of today’s young upstarts will not achieve the success they dream of. They may find themselves yearning for the kind of deference their elders once automatically enjoyed. Today’s kkondae critics may grow up to be kkondae

themselves. But whether tomorrow’s young people will let them get away with that is doubtful.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "What makes you “kkondae”"