[KS] Sensitive Korean language issues: <No Touch> is really <No.Da.Ji> ?

Gari Keith Ledyard gkl1 at columbia.edu
Fri Oct 31 15:05:51 EST 2003


I think I can clarify--and confirm--the etymology of <nodaji) in the sense
of "bonanza," "hit the jackpot," etc., and its relationship to "No touch."
This has to do with the famous Unsan mines, the fabulously valuable gold
mines in Unsan county northeast of Y^ongby^on in what is now North Korea.
These mines--indeed all gold mining rights for the entire territory of
Unsan county-- were assigned in 1896 by King Kojong to the American
entrepreneur Leigh J. Hunt, in exchange for 25% of all profits into the
personal purse of the king.  All the gold was sold exclusively to the
Osaka Mint.  It was a classic case of imperialist exploitatation of
monopoly rights to East Asian mineral other natural resources, and
railroad building, electrification, etc., as well as of the more or less
corrupt practices that grew up in Korea around the "concessions" or
<(r)ikkw^n> granted to foreigners in the days of the Great Korean Empire"
(Taehan Cheguk) that formally existed from 1896 to 1910.  Under Hunt's
aggressive management, the Unsan mines indeed became a bonanza.  He got
75% of the profits and maybe more--Kojong's 25% depended on Hunt's very
secretive bookkeeping.  Hunt sold out in 1901 to the Oriental Consolidated
Mining Company, then went on to coffee plantations in Africa.  He was also
one of the major developers of Las Vegas in the 1920s; before his Korean
venture he had been among the major developers of Seattle.  He always
played fast and tough, and liked to get out of his ventures at high prices
just as soon as they were going concerns.
	Anyway, Hunt was notorious for using his hired American tough guys
--all from his home state of Indiana-- to police and manage Unsan's gold
resources.  A Korean caught taking a spoonful of sand out of one of
Unsan's streams or rivers would be roughly dealt with, even though the
natives of the area had regarded that income as a natural birthright for
centuries.  This behavior earned the nick-name "No Touch Mine" for the
Unsan mining operations.  The name may have been coined by a Japanese--
many of whom were hired as foremen and middle level employees by the
O.C.M.C.  In Japanese, "No Touch" was kana-ized as "No-ta-chi," and in the
colonial period that phrase came to be synonymous with "bonanza."  Of
course, No-ta-chi in Korean will come out "Nodaji."  I have heard it used
many times in my time in Korea.

Gari Ledyard

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, JooBai Lee wrote:

> Sensitive Korean language issues:  <No Touch>  is  really  <No.Da.Ji>   ?
>
>
>
> Dear List,
>
> Can someone verify or debunk the etymology of the word <No.Da.Ji>?
>
>           <No.Da.Ji(Eureka!) may be the hidden English in Korean>
>
> <No.Da.Ji> is used in Korean as "hitting the bonanza", or "Eureka!",
> or "hitting the jack-pot", implication being that you have hit upon
> something of great value, such as hitting on a rich vein of gold.
>
> On the other hand, <No Touch> suggests injunction to stay away,
> matters of embarrassment, issues to be not discussed, or matters
> of sensitivity better left undisturbed, and possibly a matter of some
> sanctity better left untouched by outsiders.
>
> One Korean-American suggested, with some humor, that <No.Da.Ji>
> may be the Koreanized version of English <No Touch>.  This interpretation
> being a mere folk-etymology, I wonder if there is a more scholarly
> etymology of the word?
>
>




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