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South Korean professors selected “myo-seo-dong-cheo” (猫鼠同處) as this year’s sajaseong-eo, Korean idioms made up of four Chinese characters. The idiom consists of four Chinese characters that signify “cat” (myo), “rat” (seo), “to be together” (dong), and “to be” (cheo) and means, “A cat and a rat are together; the thief-catcher has joined forces with the thief.”

According to Sunday’s Kyosu Shinmun, candidates for this year’s sajaseong-eo were narrowed down to six after nominations by a committee went through a screening process overseen by preliminary judges; then, the six contenders went through a voting process in which 880 university professors from around the nation cast two votes each.

“Myo-seo-dong-cheo” received 514 votes (29.2%) out of the total 1,760.

Kyosu Shinmun selects and announces one sajaseong-eo that captures Korean society in a given year at the end of each year. This year, the newspaper conducted an email survey from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2 via Embrain, an online research company, to determine this year’s proverb.

According to Choi Jae-mok, a professor of philosophy at Yeungnam University who nominated this year’s winning sajaseong-eo, the idiom can be traced back to “myo-seo-dong-yu” (猫鼠同乳), which means, “A cat and a rat suck from the same breast,” in the “Old Book of Tang,” which records the history of the Tang dynasty from the Later Jin period, as well as in the “New Book of Tang,” a revision of the former compiled during the Song dynasty.

Typically, rats tunnel into granaries to steal their contents while cats catch the thieves. The idiom points out how, though they are supposed to be opposing forces like cats and rats, government officials of lower and higher rank sometimes commit wrongful deeds together through corrupt collusion.

On why he nominated “myo-seo-dong-cheo,” Choi said, “Various offices of the government, as well as both the ruling and opposition parties, constantly raised accusations of injustice, mistrusting standards of legislation, judicature and administration.”

He added, “I repeatedly observed [in 2021] cases in which those responsible for the rigorous administration of government and those whose job it is to ensure the fair enforcement and implementation of the law worked in cahoots with those only looking out for their own interests, getting involved with those with vested interests.”

While professors voted for “myo-seo-dong-cheo” as this year’s sajaseong-eo for many different reasons, the most popular response as to why they voted for the idiom went something like the response of a social sciences professor in their 60s who said, “Those in power are joining forces to commit injustices.”

A humanities professor in their 70s cited one of Joseon dynasty’s greatest thinkers Dasan Jeong Yak-yong’s “Song of the Cat,” saying, “When regulators and the regulated come together in an illicit union, nothing is out of bounds.”

Some professors voted for “myo-seo-dong-cheo” with concern for next year’s presidential election. A professor in their 40s whose discipline was not identified, said, “It’s as if those stepping up as leaders are competing on who is less corrupt, and [I am] filled with doubts about their morality.”

A social sciences professor in their 60s also commented, “The current situation is asking [people] to choose the lesser evil to entrust the fate of the nation with.”

“In-gon-ma-pib” (人困馬乏), which came in second place and means, “Both human and horse are exhausted,” originates from a story from the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” in which Liu Bei, during a long journey fleeing from war, laments, “After running away day after day, human and horse are both wearied to death.”

Professor Seo Hyeok, who teaches Korean language education at Ewha Womans University and nominated the idiom as this year’s sajaseong-eo, compared the COVID-19 pandemic to Liu Bei’s flight from war, defining this year as “a year after which both the people and the nation are bone-tired from running from COVID-19.”

Among the 270 votes cast by professors in their 40s, “myo-seo-dong-cheo” and “in-gon-ma-pib” both received 67 votes (24.8%) each, jointly winning first place in the age category.

Other idioms that were nominated for this year’s sajaseong-eo include “i-jeon-tu-gu” (泥田鬪狗), which received 17% of votes and signifies a dogfight-like struggle for one’s interests; “gak-ju-gu-geom” (刻舟求劍), which received 14.3% of votes and is used to describe those with poor judgment who lack flexibility and have little knowledge of the ways of the world; “baek-cheok-gan-du” (百尺竿頭), which received 9.4% of votes and is used to describe very difficult and precarious situations; and “yu-ja-ib-jeong” (孺子入井), which received 9.0% of votes and emphasizes that ordinary people should be looked after.

By Jeon Jeong-yun, staff reporter

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