What are the most common English words used in Korea? Not words and phrases in people's active vocabulary, such as 'hello', 'good-bye', and 'thank you', but rather words which are only known passively, and can be instantly recognised but not used accurately.
I started on this train of thought when a friend made a point I hadn't previously considered. He suggested that from a marketing perspective certain English words are instantly recognisable even to people who speak little of the language. Because these words become synonymous with certain products and services they are often used for brand and shop names, etcetera.
These commonly used words both function, and are treated as, items of meaning rather than individual parts of speech. They are akin to blocks of meaning, and cannot be treated as nouns or verbs etc. without losing their instant recognisability. For example, the word 'gift' is used on many shop fronts, often incorrectly, in sentences such as 'Stationary and Gift'. If one was to apply the basic rule of adding an 's' to plural nouns, the word would no longer be recognised, and it would lose all associated meaning. Passersby might no longer associate that particular shop with presents as the block of meaning 'gift' had been corrupted into 'gifts'.
This made me wonder about similar words used in marketing and which, as a blocks of meaning, are easily recognised and often used in Korea.
Obvious ones are: Love, Book, and Gift
Words such as these are often used in bizarre and inappropriate situations, lending credence to the idea that rather than function as English parts of speech they represent whole ideas, perhaps: Happiness, Education and Friendship, respectively.
What are some of the most commonly used English words in Korea?
A quick scan through my list of nonsensical English, and submissions from other readers, has revealed the following.
Item Occurrences Love 10 Happy 5 Spring 4 Friend 5 Good 2 OK 3 Flower 1 Australopithecus 1 What does this tell you? Australopithecine hominds are as popular as flowers when it comes to marketing English in Korea? Perhaps not, but what do you think? Please submit what you think are some of the most oft used words for marketing.
