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Korean · Hands: Hearts & Potatoes · hand gesture

주먹감자 (감자 먹이기)

jumeok gamja (gamja meogigi)

Up yours — the Korean bras d'honneur.

3/5 Watch your audience

genuinely rude; friends only, never at work

The gesture

"One fist thrust forward, the other hand slapped into the crook of that elbow — 'feeding someone a potato.'"

What your hand is actually doing.

How to use it

Korea's arm-cannon: thrust one fist forward while the flat of the other hand chops into the bend of that elbow — the same architecture as the Italian umbrella gesture, known here as 주먹감자, "the fist potato," or 감자 먹이기, "feeding (someone) a potato." It's "up yours" with a rustic, almost comic flavor: schoolkids trade it, variety shows pixelate it half-heartedly, drivers deploy it when the finger feels too imported. A 3 — genuinely rude, but with a slapstick register the middle finger lacks; between friends mid-banter it's closer to a raspberry. Aimed in earnest at a stranger, potatoes escalate like anything else.

Heard in the wild

동생이 약 올리길래 주먹감자 먹였지.

My little brother kept teasing me, so I fed him the fist potato.

Where it lands

South Korea (universal); comic-rude register

Quick answers

What does "주먹감자 (감자 먹이기)" mean?
In Korean, "주먹감자 (감자 먹이기)" means "Up yours — the Korean bras d'honneur.". Literally it's "One fist thrust forward, the other hand slapped into the crook of that elbow — 'feeding someone a potato.'". Korea's arm-cannon: thrust one fist forward while the flat of the other hand chops into the bend of that elbow — the same architecture as the Italian umbrella gesture, known here as 주먹감자, "the fist potato," or 감자 먹이기, "feeding (someone) a potato." It's "up yours" with a rustic, almost comic flavor: schoolkids trade it, variety shows pixelate it half-heartedly, drivers deploy it when the finger feels too imported. A 3 — genuinely rude, but with a slapstick register the middle finger lacks; between friends mid-banter it's closer to a raspberry. Aimed in earnest at a stranger, potatoes escalate like anything else.
Is "주먹감자 (감자 먹이기)" offensive?
It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.
How do you pronounce "주먹감자 (감자 먹이기)"?
This one's a hand gesture — there's nothing to pronounce. One fist thrust forward, the other hand slapped into the crook of that elbow — 'feeding someone a potato.'.

Related in Korean

가운뎃손가락 (엿) gaundetsongarak (yeot) gesture The finger — 'eat yeot,' Korea's fuck-you, with a local wrist-flick variant. 손가락 하트 songarak hateu gesture The finger heart — 'I love you / you're adorable,' Korea's signature affection gesture. 오라는 손짓 oraneun sonjit gesture 'Come here' — done palm-down; the palm-up curl is for dogs, and reads as contempt. 씨발 ssibal sshee-BAHL Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse. 미친 michin mee-CHEEN Crazy — from 'that's insane(ly good)!' to 'you lunatic' to a genuine slur on someone's sanity. 개새끼 gaesaekki geh-SEH-kkee Son of a bitch / bastard — a real insult with no soft reading.

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "Screw you".

how to say "Screw you" →

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