A Korean friend of mine asked me recently if there was a word for someone who habitually stays indoors. More house-bound slob than agoraphobic, and something along the lines of couch potato, or lounge lizard. There is a slang Korean word for this, said "bangkok" and meaning roughly "room storage" (playing on the coincidental homophony with that city). And an English equivalent? I said no, and quickly changed the subject. But I'm not so sure.

Another question I was asked -- and am often asked -- was whether there was a word in English for cohabitation before marriage: a taboo in Korea. Seeing as this is not an issue in most English-speaking cultures, I am not surprised one did not immediately come to mind. I have, however, found :

Quote:

con·cu·bi·nage
noun
Law. Cohabitation without legal marriage.



which is my usual answer, but most dictionaries -- including my Korean friend's -- define this as the much less tolerated practice of keeping concubines.

Lastly, the Korean idiom "the belly-button is bigger than the belly" is used for any situation where the outlay far exceeds the return, or a similar scenario, such as buying a used car and having to spend the equivalent of a new car to get it on the road. "What do you say in English?", I was asked. The best I could offer was white elephant. Not only is this not suitable, it is not even an idiom.

Three apparently simple questions from a student of English and I... with... can't...

* Head explodes.*

Or are there words or expressions for these things in English?

Help.

Last edited by Homo Loquens; 12/09/05 03:23 AM.