South Korea알바 (alba)
noun, verb · Colloquial · AL-ba
A part-time job, and the person doing it. 알바생 is the worker, 알바비 the wage, 꿀알바 a cushy one.
South Korea
Korean Slang for Money & Work
8 Korean slang terms for money & work, each with its meaning, how it is pronounced and an example of it in use.
Slang for cash, cost, employment and effort. Money terms are among the oldest and most durable slang in any language, and often the most regionally specific.
백수 (baeksu)
noun · Colloquial · BEK-soo
Someone out of work and not currently studying — typically a graduate between things. Usually self-applied and lightly rueful rather than insulting.
갑질 (gapjil)
noun · Colloquial · GAP-jil
Abuse of a position of power over someone dependent on you: a client humiliating a supplier, an executive berating cabin crew, a landlord leaning on a tenant.
+1 more sense
금수저 (geumsujeo)
noun · Colloquial · GUM-soo-juh
Someone born wealthy, whose start in life was bought for them. Part of a full ranking — 금 (gold), 은 (silver), 동 (bronze), 흙 (dirt) — that Koreans use half-jokingly and half-seriously about their own prospects.
헬조선 (heljoseon)
noun · Informal · HEL-jo-sun
South Korea seen as a place of hopeless competition: brutal work culture, unaffordable housing, exams that decide a life at eighteen. Bitter rather than playful.
흙수저 (heuksujeo)
noun · Colloquial · HUK-soo-juh
Someone born with nothing to fall back on — the bottom of the spoon hierarchy, and very often a self-description.
열공 (yeolgong)
noun, verb · Colloquial · YUL-gong
Studying flat out. Said of exam season, and used as an encouragement — 열공해 is 'work hard'.
+1 more sense
열정페이 (yeoljeong pei)
noun · Colloquial · YUL-jung pay
Being paid in experience: the internship, the fashion placement or the studio job that offers exposure and enthusiasm in place of wages.