new perspectives / self-care

NOURISH YOUR SOUL

When I was twenty-two, I taught English in South Korea for a year. Despite my heritage, I’m sad to say that I didn’t know any Korean going into the year. Therefore, I was beguiled by one particular phrase that came up almost every day I was there. “ ?” Bap mogossoyo? Literally translated, it means “Have you eaten rice?”

It seems like a straightforward question, I know—only that’s not actually what it means. Used colloquially, this phrase means “How are you?” Teachers would ask me this when I walked into class, friends would ask this when I sat down for a meal, and sometimes even clerks at the grocery store would ask. “Have you eaten rice?”

The origin of this idiom is somewhat literal. After the Korean War, when Korea was the poorest country in the world, people would ask each other, “Have you eaten rice?” and mean it. The question was meant to ensure you were well. Have you eaten? Are you okay? Can I help? Over time, like all things, the phrase changed. Now, the literal phrase asks an emotional question.

You know how hard it can be to answer a simple “How are you?” “Good. Fine.” Even when, in fact, you’re not good at all. In some ways, the Korean version of this common greeting solidified to me what was missing from its English counterpart. To be “good,” to be “fine,” you have to be well fed, sustained, to have eaten rice—or whatever it is in your own life that gives you nourishment. That could be buying flowers, sitting with your pet, or calling a friend for a catch-up.