K-Pop Fans Mistake New Gen-Z Slang For Korean Word

K-Pop fans mistook a popular internet acronym for a Korean word.

You might have seen netizens increasingly use what appears to be a word recently. It’s “ijbol.”

that awkward little pause when the audience screamed WHO DAT BOY when irene said WHO DAT IS ijbol pic.twitter.com/bfT1BZ0DFT

— tay 🎫 (@thisrainstops) August 9, 2023

thinking about how jerry proposed and belly said yes, but then later that night she dreamed about conrad ijbolpic.twitter.com/X2R4cNeGAI

— estelle-jo ➐ (@dazlingfox) August 10, 2023

ijbol king trying not to laugh pic.twitter.com/XkZ6wKk51G https://t.co/UfVAFaTldF

— м (@joohe0nism) August 10, 2023

It’s actually an acronym for the phrase, “I just burst out laughing.” It’s the latest Gen-Z internet slang. While the phrase originated in 2009, the acronym appeared in 2011. It never became frequently used like similar acronyms “lol,” “lmao,” or “rofl” until now, over a decade later.

Last year, “ijbol” became more frequently used by netizens. Now, it’s more popular than ever as it’s become a viral trend to post a video or photo of someone bursting out laughing and include “ijbol” in the caption.

me when i eat ijbol flavored foodpic.twitter.com/BDQ4LWlDeb

— ☆ ͏ (@bffs4gyu) July 17, 2023

me when i eat ijbol flavored ice cream pic.twitter.com/P02kcwsqx0

— kant seulgi (@ningsold) July 10, 2023

Me eating alphabet soup and I eat the word "ijbol"
pic.twitter.com/Ljm6C13CEX

— Miz Irritating 🌸 (@miz_irritating) July 1, 2023

Still, many didn’t know what “ijbol” meant. The K-Pop fan community, especially, initially thought it was a Korean word, not an acronym! Several netizens’ confessions of this have gone viral, proving it’s a universal experience.

me finding out ijbol stood for “i just burst out laughing” and wasn’t some random Korean word: pic.twitter.com/YabO6NZ9uI

— kaz ⓪⑤ taesan day! (@keitaDNI) July 7, 2023

wdym ijbol is i just burst out laughing i thought it was a korean word … pic.twitter.com/QzJfc26dNq

— ➴ (@guntthew) July 4, 2023

i thought IJBOL was a korean word before pic.twitter.com/vYCcycPdyk

— ★ ⨾ (@heedaze_) June 3, 2023

One reason why so many K-Pop fans might have mistaken “ijbol” for a Korean word is that some English-speaking K-content fans spell out Korean words phonetically. For example, the exclamation, “제발,” which means “For God’s sake,” is often written as “jebal.” Besides, since most write “ijbol” in lowercase rather than all caps “IJBOL,” it looks more like part of a sentence than an acronym at first glance.

"what's the reason why your insta id is hynjn ㅋㅋㅋㅋ"

🥟 no but really I was just going to go with whatever but there were so many hyunjins…

i thought "jebal as long as one goes through"

I removed the u and added more n…. but I had to keep adding n's and i thought i… pic.twitter.com/iu7FfGgmbx

— ellie ✦ (@hyunehans) August 3, 2023

This, this I missed between them. Trying to be sneaky but not actually trying at all 😭

This bg music, I missed the bg music. I miss them being happy. Please let them be happy 🙏😭

JEBAL 🙏😭#Heartbeat #HeartbeatEp14 pic.twitter.com/5rG5RR0l0g

— иιℓαиנαиα (@_Nilanjana07_) August 8, 2023

namjoon in the house tonight, god have mercy on us, jebal~ pic.twitter.com/NC7QG4AjEv

— soo⁷ ꪜ (@kkukvmin) August 6, 2023

So, netizens even assumed “ijbol” was some sort of exclamation or insult in Korean. But it’s just an innocent acronym to express laughter online.

just found out what ijbol means, really thought it was a korean insult 😭

— BINKY DAYY!!!🩷 (@ssickjisung) July 17, 2023

WAIT I JUST CAME TO KNOW FROM OOMF'S TWEET THAT IJBOL ISN'T A KOREAN WORD???? pic.twitter.com/dbdnvQ9Zxa

— ✯ ʟᴀʏᴏ(ꪜ)ᴇʀ | ia (@thvcore__) July 17, 2023

theres two type of ppl: ppl who think ijbol is a random korean word and ppl who think ijbol stands for something bool

— 🎀 (@bulkkonnori) July 10, 2023

Did you know what “ijbol” meant?