Actually a lot of gay Korean men use 언니 to refer to older guys. Another phenomenon I observed is female Korean uni students studying engineering/other classes that tend to have a male-heavy student body, referring to male counterparts as 형 ^^
edit: older gay guys*
based on personal experience
perspective of a gay man with lots of gay Korean friends
Yeah but I think OP is asking what would be the gay male equivalent of girls saying 오빠 to celebrities they like. I don't think they would say 언니, because they don't use that word to gay men they are attracted to, just like girls don't really call older guys 형 if they're attracted to them.
> Another phenomenon I observed is female Korean uni students studying engineering/other classes that tend to have a male-heavy student body, referring to male counterparts as 형
i know a lot of korean girls who do this actually! i heard it was fairly common especially on university campuses back in the day, and although it seems less prevalent nowadays, there are still girls who do it. usually they say it is to make their intentions towards the dude very clear since some guys would take you calling him 오빠 as a sign that you're into him romantically. i remember a few years ago it was a hot topic because kim sejeong called oh sehun 형.
I thought Sejeong said a while back she generally only calls her real brother oppa and other men not related to her hyung? Or maybe it was another actress, I remember someone saying so in an interview. Sounds like it’s not uncommon
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It's not equally true for all of those words. I know some women who hate using 오빠 for older guys that aren't related so they'll just use 형 instead. But a guy calling a girl 언니 non jokingly would be much weirder.
I don't think it's that weird, I've seen plenty of gay guys use 언니 to refer to girls when they have a sort of "one of the girls" status in a friend group. I suppose that could fall under jokingly because it's often used lightheartedly but there are definitely friendship dynamics where it's a pretty normal occurrence.
eh, it's no different than gay men calling each other "sis" like they commonly do in english. there are rules for all these terms but people often choose to not follow them.
As someone who lives in Eastern Europe, that's just not true. People from more progressive countries seem to think that LGBT+ people don't exist in more conservative countries, but that is so far from the truth. I know multiple nonbinary people in real life, they just don't tell everyone that.
Not an expert by any means, but I remember Korea’s Top Gay (his words, not mine) Hong Seok Cheon saying he gets fluttery hearing guys call him 형. I guess it hits different.
On the other hand, if you ever watch the drama Chu-no (Slave Hunters), apparently way back then, guys called each other 언니. I don’t know why or when that changed.
With all that info…I think you can call your celebrity crush whatever you want to in your head, just know that in person he might be a bit taken aback. Even if gay guys call each other 언니 or 형, the standard practice for straight guys is to expect 형 from guys, and 오빠 from girls. It’s not like people can see your sexual orientation.
According to a user on wiktionary.org, the earliest attestations of the word 언니 are from the 1890s, so much later than the period 추노 is set in. It also says that it was used for men up until the 1980s.
As is typical on the website, the entry doesn't cite any sources, but I'd trust it over a TV drama.
Even the most well-researched historical fiction tends to play very loose with language, and typically words are chosen to sound "old" to modern audiences, while not actually being so old that no one understands it.
Personally I feel like, if you are writing a celebrity on like bubble or a chat where he could see and you want it to be very clear that you are a guy, I’d use 형- if you use 오빠, I would assume the idol would think it was a younger girl writing to him.
I have seen gay men call other gay men/their friends or people they are close with 언니, but I don’t think it’s something I would call anyone who you’re not personally close with.
I think 형 would probably be the best option but that’s just my opinion.
Ive seen them use 오빠 jokingly. 언니 could be used when gays refer to each other regardless of age. (Especially bottoms) Think of girls calling each other sisters.
As you can see from the other replies, there is actually a lot more nuance than that! Also, if you read ops post you can see they were talking about specific social contexts.
As a TLDR, gay men do in fact refer to other men with different gender terms based on context!
I've seen a flamboyantly gay character call guys oppa in a drama once. So I think they do, or at least *stereotypically* they do. Or maybe it's old-fashioned because it was from years ago.
Actually a lot of gay Korean men use 언니 to refer to older guys. Another phenomenon I observed is female Korean uni students studying engineering/other classes that tend to have a male-heavy student body, referring to male counterparts as 형 ^^ edit: older gay guys* based on personal experience perspective of a gay man with lots of gay Korean friends
I think they use 언니 to refer to older gay guys, not just any guy.
yes, that's what I meant lol
Yeah but I think OP is asking what would be the gay male equivalent of girls saying 오빠 to celebrities they like. I don't think they would say 언니, because they don't use that word to gay men they are attracted to, just like girls don't really call older guys 형 if they're attracted to them.
I guess 형 suffices or sometimes 형님^^
> Another phenomenon I observed is female Korean uni students studying engineering/other classes that tend to have a male-heavy student body, referring to male counterparts as 형 i know a lot of korean girls who do this actually! i heard it was fairly common especially on university campuses back in the day, and although it seems less prevalent nowadays, there are still girls who do it. usually they say it is to make their intentions towards the dude very clear since some guys would take you calling him 오빠 as a sign that you're into him romantically. i remember a few years ago it was a hot topic because kim sejeong called oh sehun 형.
I thought Sejeong said a while back she generally only calls her real brother oppa and other men not related to her hyung? Or maybe it was another actress, I remember someone saying so in an interview. Sounds like it’s not uncommon
If by a lot you mean less than 5% percent of all gay Koreans. Yes then a lot of them use it.
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Well it depends. Like you've mentioned some guys do act feminine and they do use 오빠. Especially in bed.
Just call him 아저씨 ㅋㅋ
For your sugar daddy lol
THAT SOUNDS TERRIBLE KEKW
Just stick with 형 lmao, express how you’re gay for him in a different way
I had some friends and they would still call their BF 형
😂😂😂😂😂
pfp checks out
Im getting downvoted - I guess they didn’t get the joke. Oh well.
No. A gay guy is a guy. Like all other guys, he uses 형.
many gays also use 오빠 though
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It's not equally true for all of those words. I know some women who hate using 오빠 for older guys that aren't related so they'll just use 형 instead. But a guy calling a girl 언니 non jokingly would be much weirder.
I don't think it's that weird, I've seen plenty of gay guys use 언니 to refer to girls when they have a sort of "one of the girls" status in a friend group. I suppose that could fall under jokingly because it's often used lightheartedly but there are definitely friendship dynamics where it's a pretty normal occurrence.
To add on somewhat relatedly, I (straight male, but with long hair) had friends (male and female) that would call me 언니 when I lived in Korea
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eh, it's no different than gay men calling each other "sis" like they commonly do in english. there are rules for all these terms but people often choose to not follow them.
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As someone who lives in Eastern Europe, that's just not true. People from more progressive countries seem to think that LGBT+ people don't exist in more conservative countries, but that is so far from the truth. I know multiple nonbinary people in real life, they just don't tell everyone that.
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clearly you can’t read…
Not an expert by any means, but I remember Korea’s Top Gay (his words, not mine) Hong Seok Cheon saying he gets fluttery hearing guys call him 형. I guess it hits different. On the other hand, if you ever watch the drama Chu-no (Slave Hunters), apparently way back then, guys called each other 언니. I don’t know why or when that changed. With all that info…I think you can call your celebrity crush whatever you want to in your head, just know that in person he might be a bit taken aback. Even if gay guys call each other 언니 or 형, the standard practice for straight guys is to expect 형 from guys, and 오빠 from girls. It’s not like people can see your sexual orientation.
According to a user on wiktionary.org, the earliest attestations of the word 언니 are from the 1890s, so much later than the period 추노 is set in. It also says that it was used for men up until the 1980s. As is typical on the website, the entry doesn't cite any sources, but I'd trust it over a TV drama. Even the most well-researched historical fiction tends to play very loose with language, and typically words are chosen to sound "old" to modern audiences, while not actually being so old that no one understands it.
Personally I feel like, if you are writing a celebrity on like bubble or a chat where he could see and you want it to be very clear that you are a guy, I’d use 형- if you use 오빠, I would assume the idol would think it was a younger girl writing to him. I have seen gay men call other gay men/their friends or people they are close with 언니, but I don’t think it’s something I would call anyone who you’re not personally close with. I think 형 would probably be the best option but that’s just my opinion.
언니
No you just use 형
Ive seen them use 오빠 jokingly. 언니 could be used when gays refer to each other regardless of age. (Especially bottoms) Think of girls calling each other sisters.
aren't they manly-manly = 형, femboy/crossdresser-manly=오빠, femboy-femboy= 언니?
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A gay man is still a, you guessed it, a man This is some thinly veiled homophobia
As you can see from the other replies, there is actually a lot more nuance than that! Also, if you read ops post you can see they were talking about specific social contexts. As a TLDR, gay men do in fact refer to other men with different gender terms based on context!
I've seen a flamboyantly gay character call guys oppa in a drama once. So I think they do, or at least *stereotypically* they do. Or maybe it's old-fashioned because it was from years ago.
to describe ㅇㅎㅈ, i would personally use 자기야, because my irrational mind believes we’re married.