Why Do They Say "Fighting!" in Korean Dramas?

I wasn't very far along my Korean drama journey when I heard my first character shout, "Fighting!" It was possibly one of the cutest things I had ever seen. At a moment of discouragement for the female lead, her friend smiled wide, pumped her fists into the air, and said this expression which could only possibly mean, "You can do it! You go girl!" I thought to myself, "I love that! Wouldn't it be nice if we said that in English?" And then I thought to myself, "But wait, that was in English." And then I thought to myself, "Wait, why was that in English? Where do Koreans get that?"

It seems that I was not alone in this chain of thought. I typed in my question to google and a whole slew of people asked it. There are many theories about where it came from, but no real historical answers. To save you the time of weeding through all the explanations, I will give you a concise list of the possible origins of "fighting" aka, "hwaiting" or "paiting" as used by Koreans.



1. It was adopted during the Korean War when Koreans were exposed to American troops
2. It surfaced in the mid 1980's as a cheer for Taekwondo athletes competing in America
3. The slogan "Korea Team Fighting" was promoted by the cell phone company KTF during the 2002 Soccer World Cup to capitalize on the tie-in with its name.
4. It was first used and spread by the kdrama Full House
5. It made its way into Korea via the Japanese
6. Koreans took the word from old Korean/English dictionaries and applied it in a new way

Basically, there is no real explanation for the use of "Fighting!" but I don't care because I love it and want to use it all the time in America! I think it's only a matter of time before it spreads here. If you know of any other possible explanations leave them in the comments.

So that leads us to the use of it in our blog title. We are "Kdrama Fighting!" because we want all new kdrama viewers to make a fun and successful transition into Korean drama fandom. So keep on watching and loving kdramas with our help. Fighting!

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Comments

  1. Are you from America? I seriously thought you were a Korean... He he.. That explains your language fluency.. Just now found out this blog, but already loving it... <3

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    1. Yeah, we're just a couple of American kdrama fangirls. I guess we should take that as a compliment though! Glad you enjoy our blog :)

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  2. Your blog is hilarious! Keep them coming ;)

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  3. your blog is hilarious..good work.. i second almost all your opinions..it feels like you are writing my thoughts on K dramas.. even i am not Korean.. but i cant stop loving these k dramas & cant stop laughing at the absurdity of these dramas..its strange that i find them hilarious without any logic but still they manage to being smile on my face every time & make me believe & fall in love..no matter how absurd they are at times ..good work!! keep it up..i enjoy your blog as much as i enjoy K dramas.

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    1. Thank you, that is the nicest compliment we have ever received!

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  5. Didn't know all that!! first of all I really enjoy your blog, so I'm reading all the posts from the oldest to the newest...
    Secondly, on the subject, I'm not an english native speaker so when I heard all the time this word in kdrams I never doubted it wasn't used as an english would use it...then later on I found out also many other english words used differently in korean, so now I know I have to wacth out for those when speaking with eng native speakers ^^
    Best regards from a kdrama fan from Italy!

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    1. Thanks for reading our blog! Yeah, if you came to America and said "Fighting!" to someone most people would be really confused :)

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  6. dunno much abt ur blog. Came across it via gooogle search abt 'fighting'. I love korean films too. So, keep up d good work. Fighting!

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  7. and could u pls recommend an action korean drama to watch.

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    1. I really liked "City Hunter." It's got elements of romance, but that's secondary to the action. It's on Netflix still, I'm pretty sure.

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    2. I agree, I loved City Hunter. Vivi loved Vampire Prosecutor and Iris as well. Thanks for visiting our blog!

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  8. I am a Pakistani kdrama fangirl & now a fan of your blog too ^-^ <3

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  9. what does G.O. stand for?

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