Shopping in Seoul, South Korea & Korean (cont) page 6

Living in Seoul, Korea by Paul Symonds

There are many words in Konglish which involve shopping – a quite popular hobby with many of the young generation these days in Seoul, in areas such as Apkujong and Kangnam. The most confusing Konglish of all, when discussing shopping, is the difference between a shopping mall and a department store. The fact that big companies, such as Hyundai, sometimes own the shopping malls and get a percentage of the sales all the more complicates it. Koreans usually consider a mall with many small businesses in it, to be a department store when it is in fact a mall. As defined by the Oxford dictionary, and as used in everyday English, a department store, shopping mall and store are defined as below.
department store n.
A large retail store offering a variety of merchandise and services and organized in separate departments.

shopping mall n.
1. An urban shopping area limited to pedestrians.
2. A shopping center with stores and businesses facing a system of enclosed walkways for pedestrians.

store n.
A place where merchandise is offered for sale; a shop.

A mall has stores/business’ (plural). A department store is one store (single) with many departments. Who owns the building is irrelevant in English, to the expressions.

‘Eye shopping’ in Konglish on the other hand, is a much simpler expression to explain. This translates quite easily into English as ‘window shopping’. ‘Jumper’, on the other hand, is a little more confusing. What in English we know as a jacket, is popularly known in Konglish as a ‘jumper’. In English ‘jumper’, ‘pullover’ and ‘sweater’ are all the same.

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