Why Do Koreans Have a cookie named Binch?

The company Lotte, which is a very successful Korean company, owns many things such as Lotte Mall, Lotte World (amusement park), and Lotte Cinema (movie theater). It also sells various food products including one that has a very unique name: Binch chocolate biscuits.

Where did this "unique" (no, strange) name come from? Well first I looked at the urban dictionary. Then I got this answer:

So a softer version of the b-word? I'm pretty sure that's not what Koreans were intending. I'm certain that they wouldn't want to associate their cookies with bad language or the equivalent of a female dog. I decided look it up in a dictionary that is trusted by almost every Korean: Naver (Sidenote: Students should never use Naver as an English dictionary. Half of the time the meanings or translations are wrong). How did Naver define 'Binch'? Notice that they are both from urban dictionaries:

binch 출처: urbandictionary

French slang for beer. See bibine, binouze, rebiè, mousse, cervoise...

Binch 출처: urbandictionary

A mixture of a "bit" and a "bunch". a medium sized portion of something.

The first definition doesn't apply in this case unless it was a cookie made from beer. I can totally see the second one being discussed in a conference room during a marketing meeting. "How can we make this cookie sound cute? It's not too small but it's not too big. Let's call it a binch!" But where did that meaning even come from? Between "a bit" and "a bunch"? Is it cute? Definitely. Is it a good name for a cookie? Definitely not.

However, a couple of friends said that Koreans wanted to combine the words "biscuit + in + chocolate" and they came up with the word "binch". Now that's even funnier and bit more ridiculous. But hey, I'm not going to complain. They're really good and one of my favorite cookies. Call them whatever you like. Just don't stop selling them! Time to buy some binches!


Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy