- This is a borrowed word from English with a slight shift in definition. According to Merriam-Webster, the term ‘backbreaking’ is used to refer to something that is exhausting or demoralizing. Backbreaker also seems to be a wrestling move seen in WWE. However, when this word got carried over to Korea, the meaning of it changed to refer a specific type of people that made their parents suffer, hence ‘breaking’ their parents’ ‘back’. This word, if not used in context to refer to people, could also refer to jackets from North Face, as many TV stars in Korea started wearing this brand, which led to all the ‘popular’ kids in school to buy it and break their parents’ back, as North Face is one of the most expensive outdoor brand found in Korea.
Backbreaker
compounding With shifting to a foreign context
(Foreign Context) A word that refers to people, usually middle or high school students, who waste their parents’ money getting involved in bad incidents and buying unnecessary things, without much efforts to make them proud.
Etymology : (Foreign Context) Borrowed compound word from the roots ‘back’ and ‘break’, with the suffix ‘-er’ on the second root to form a noun, with shifting
Source : Friend
Last modified: 14 December 2017