Paradise of syndromes

By Park Moo-jong

Korean society is full of syndromes thanks to the mass media's thoughtless abuse of English.

The "difficult" term was known to Koreans, except for medical people, 35 years ago when the first patient of AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome was found in 1981 in the United States. Syndrome is a combination of medical problems that shows the existence of a particular diseases or mental condition.

To be more precise, a syndrome is a medical condition that is characterized by a particular group of signs and symptoms, according to Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner's English Dictionary's 6th edition of 2009.

The book also says, "You can refer to an undesirable condition that is characterized by a particular type of activity or behavior as a syndrome."

The term, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, is used to describe of various illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome and Down’s syndrome.

It is also a type of "negative" behavior or mental state that is typical of a person in a particular situation, the dictionary explains: "It is a classic case of the board-housewife syndrome ― she has nothing to do all day except eat and go shopping."

A year ago, I wrote about "stubborn mistakes in use of English terms, referring to the abuse of the very word, syndrome, in particular.

In that column, I said, "In short, the medical term is not a good word. It has a negative meaning. But almost all the newspapers and TVs indiscreetly use the term for various positive and even bright social phenomena.

Two weeks ago, the Republic of Korea became a weeklong global attraction thanks to the thrilling showdown between Korean professional "go" player Lee Se-dol and Google DeepMind's artificial intelligence (AI) AlphaGo in Seoul.

Though Lee lost to the computer 1-4, the 33-year-old was like the English poet George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), who said, "I awoke one morning and found myself famous."

Nope! Lee became more famous, receiving a flood of calls for TV commercials for much bigger money than the $1 million prize the winner of the five-game match pocketed.

A new social phenomenon took place following Lee's fighting the battle courageously against the AI.

A local daily, which says it has the largest circulation in the country, never missed the chance to use the term, syndrome.

It made a headline, "As if a World Cup win, Lee Se-dol syndrome."

A TV anchor said, "Lee Se-dol syndrome is hitting the whole nation hard."

It was not only the newspaper that used the term for such a bright social phenomenon.

Over the past years, Korean media outlets, even some English papers, used to describe a very desirable and joyful trend of society, especially among youngsters, as a syndrome (used in the names of various diseases).

When figure skater Kim Yuna won a gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, most news outlets made big headlines using the term without exception. One of them was "Yuna syndrome hits the nation."

When pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin was triumphant in the Major League in the past seasons, they also reported: the "Ryu Hyun-jin syndrome."

Were Yuna and Hyun-jin were ill? Is Sedol suffering from a syndrome?

They should have chosen such terms as "fever" or "phenomenon" instead of describing the social trend following the success of the sports stars: many parents took their kids' hands and rushed to ice rinks, ballparks and go clubs.

Alas, syndrome has already become a buzzword. A new syndrome is likely to come into being: "The syndrome to call any social trend a syndrome."

In 2012, even a cable network released a serial drama, titled "Syndrome" depicting the world of neurosurgery where a medical student finds herself in a love triangle with two fellow doctors.

Indeed, there are too many English words that are "having a hard time away from home," meaning, of course, that they are used wrongly regarding their definition.

For a probably "shocking" instance, I found a signboard in an ally of eateries in Dongdaemun, Seoul: "Aid dog meat."

The restaurant owner might be very "kind" in explaining the meaning of "bosintang" or dog meat soup to attract Chinese and Japanese tourists who flock to the street which is famous for chicken soup and grilled fish.

Bosintang means a soup good for rejuvenating the body and, if translated literally, soup to "aid" the body. So the owner might choose the word “aid” for his menu.

Besides many such English words in which a new meaning must be learnt by native English speakers, there are also many newly coined English words here that we use in our daily lives like Korean words.

Some of them are very creative and are qualified to enter English dictionaries, in my opinion.

They include, first of all, "skinship," meaning intimate or affectionate touching (sexual or non-sexual) between lovers or close family members, as a sweet and perfect word to express showing physical affection with romantic intent.

Some of them also like "handphone" for cellphone or mobile phone are useful and easier to express something than accurate English words.

However, we need sincere and strenuous efforts to correct the wrong use of English to lead people into a right linguistic life.

In particular, the mass media are absolutely responsible for taking the lead in a campaign to find alternatives to the misleading "Konglish" terminology and thus to use right English terms.

Park Moo-jong is the advisor of The Korea Times. He had served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily from 2004 to 2014 after he had worked as a reporter of the paper since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.