5 essential DRINKING vocab in KOREAN SLANG

1. 치맥 [chimaek]

‘치킨' literally means ‘chicken’ but in Korea, it means the food ‘fried chicken’. Almost every Korean people love this food and always craves it in any situation! 

As ‘치킨' always comes together with ‘맥주(beer)', Koreans call them in one word ‘치맥[chimaek]’. It’s an acronym of the two words:  ‘치킨[chikin], fried chicken)’ and ‘맥주[maekju], beer’.

2. 소맥 [somaek]

‘소맥’ is the most popular boilermaker in Korea. It’s a beer cocktail made of Soju(the most common Korean liquor) and beer. The word ‘Somaek’ is an acronym of ‘소주[soju]’ and ‘맥주[maekju]’.  

Korean beer is not that strong so people usually mix the soju with beer. It has a certain proportion of those two but it depends on one’s taste. When these two alcohols are mixed up, you get more easily drunk! 

3. 콜! [call]

‘콜' is a broken English which means ‘deal’. It’s often used to accept the suggestion between young people when they make an appointment.

 

4. 짠! [jjan]

‘짠' means ‘Cheers’ in Korean. Korean people always use this as a toast but, you have to use ‘건배[geonbae]’ instead when it’s for formal situation.

5. 원샷! [oneshot]

‘원샷’ is a broken English commonly used as ‘Bottoms up’ in Korea. It’s a word composed of two English words: ‘원(one)’ and ‘샷(shot)’ 

It is used as a toast to bring a good ambiance or you can yell it at your friend when you play a drinking game.

Example

A: 오늘 밤에 뭐 할까? What shall we do tonight?

B: 치맥 어때? 콜? How about chicken and beer? Deal?

A: 콜! Deal!

A: 우리 맥주 말고 소맥 먹자! Let’s drink somaek instead of beer!

B: 좋지. 내가 완전 맛있게 말아줄게. Cool. I’ll make a good one for you. 

B: 짠~ Cheers~

A: 짠~ 원샷! Cheers~ Bottoms up!