Korean slang profile
풀장이 싫다
puljangi silda
Wordplay about leaving the staffing pool
A metaphor using a swimming pool for unassigned civil servants wishing to leave the staffing pool.
- Expanded form
- Not documented
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Dec 30, 1998
- Documented trend period
- Not verified
This is the earliest source we have verified, not the date the term was coined.
01Examples, with English translations
- Example by Julimmal
당시 공직사회 유행어인 풀장이 싫다는 인력풀을 이용한 말장난이었다.
The popular civil-service phrase 풀장이 싫다 was wordplay using the staffing pool.
02Documented history
No history documented.
03Origin & word formation
A 1998 year-end article on popular civil-service expressions introduces it as expressing the plight of employees who lost assigned posts through restructuring. The first user and time have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
Meaning and usage context in the contemporary original were checked. This stays within the particular source’s explanation and does not establish a 1998 origin or society-wide popularity.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 공직사회 유행한 말…말…말… (서울신문)Published Dec 30, 1998Original source checked Nov 15, 2026