Another word, noona (누나), is used to mean older sister. However, this is used when men are talking to older males. There are a couple of related words that relate to age and gender, including hyung (형) or hyeong which also means older brother. In Korea and Korean culture, oppa can be used to refer to someone’s own brother or their older boyfriend.
Some people mistakenly think the definition of oppa is daddy but this is not the case. In Korean, the word oppa is written as 오빠. While this can be used to refer to a female’s older brother, it can also indicate an older male friend, love interest or romantic interest. This word is used by females to refer to older males. This word is used frequently in k-dramas (Korean dramas) as well as in normal Korean life. RELATED: A Bad Lip Read of Edward and Bella Kimmel Continues to Make Kids Cryįor those unfamiliar with the term, mondegreens are basically nonsensical, humorous phrases born from mishearing lyrics. You probably know some of the genre's classics. Paul McCartney's stab at French on "Michelle" is often mondegreenized as "Sunday monkey won't play piano song." Does Jimi Hendrix want to "kiss the sky" or "kiss this guy?" Recently, The New York Times ran a piece on the latest entry in the mondegreen cannon: "fanute," French Montana's unintelligible first utterance on Rick Ross' "Stay Schemin.According to 90 Day Korean and Linguaholic, the word oppa means older brother. Folks on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and other meme factories are already mining the mondegreen for LOLs. But the reference seems lost on all the listeners who think PSY is saying "open condom style," which makes no sense, but sounds like a bad idea nonetheless. As The Atlantic's Max Fisher noted, the refrain "oppa Gangnam style" is a clever jab at Seoul's rich and idle. It has 53 million Youtube hits as of this writing, it's the first K-pop single to top the iTunes video charts, and every news organization from The Washington Post to Time is gushing over it. But, as they do with most K-pop songs, Western listeners are hilariously mishearing its lyrics.
Americans can't get enough of the bizarre hit "Gangnam Style" by Korean pop star PSY.