An episode of QI included several sayings that are supposedly used in Korean. Can anybody tell me if these are (or were) actual sayings used in Korea?
[ul]
[li]“You wouldn’t notice even if a friend at the same table died.” = the food was delicious[/li][li]“He disappeared like a fart through hemp pyjamas.” = his departure was awkward[/li]
[li]“My eyebrows are on fire.” = I’m in a desperate situation[/li][/ul]
Yes. Definitely,the first and third one. Can’t confirm the middle one, but it sounds like something an older Korean might say.
Are they slightly more poetic in Korean?
Google translate renders the “you wouldn’t notice …” one as
“dangsin-eun gat-eun teibeul-e chinguga jug-eoss-eul gyeong-uedo nunchi chaeji moshal geolago” which sounds like quite a mouthful for even an eloquent compliment. (I strongly suspect that’s a mangled translation. Sayings and idioms rarely translate well.)
The first two are both listed in “Looking for a Mr. Kim in Seoul: A Guide to Korean Expressions” by Sang-Hun Choe and Christopher Torchia.
According to the Googlebooks preview, “You wouldn’t notice even if a friend at the same table died.” is rendered as:
Turi mŏktaga hana chugŏdo morŭnda. 둘이 먹다가 하나 죽어도 모른다.