Understanding Korean Text Message Laughter ㅋㅋㅋ

Sat Sep 21 2024

Fun Korean Slang in Text Messages

One of the things Koreans often use when exchanging messages is "ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ". Perhaps you've seen it before.

As a Korean language teacher—or rather, as a Korean—I want to share some insights about this with you.

If someone says "ㅋ" to you,

Interestingly, it's highly unlikely that this is an expression of laughter like "lol" in English.

It's more like a slight smirk, barely showing their teeth—a kind of half-hearted chuckle. In other words, they're not laughing because something is funny (to get to the point, it's not funny but they're just laughing anyway).

"ㅋㅋ" is similar.

Actually, it's not that something is funny; it's a polite way to respond. I do it too; oddly enough, even when someone senior says something that's not amusing, we just reply with, "Yes, that's right haha~".

Starting from "ㅋㅋㅋ"

you can consider it genuinely funny. It's not outrageously hilarious, but it's enough to make you chuckle a bit.

So you might wonder,

HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD YOU TYPE "ㅋ" TO SHOW THAT YOU REALLY FIND SOMETHING FUNNY?

There's no exact answer, but it should be something like this:

"ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ"

Or if you flood it even more than this, it means it's insanely funny.

"ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ"

Of course, standards may vary from person to person, but they're generally similar. If someone says "ㅋ" to you, just know that it doesn't carry the same feeling as "lol".