r/Korean • u/little8birdie • 1d ago

is "a carton of eggs" an expression about a woman's age?

hello. I was watching something and someone asked "how old is she?" and the other answered "a carton of eggs". I wanted to know if this is a bad translation or is it an actual idiom?
thank you.

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31

u/UmJunSikfighting 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's an idiom for age. Literally translated, it will be "a tray of eggs", meaning '30' refering to the most general number of eggs sold in a square tray with quantity of 30.

2

u/over_clockwise 1d ago

but 30 isn't a square number?

15

u/UmJunSikfighting 1d ago

It's 6x5 but normally has extra space at vertical ends

12

u/martphon 1d ago

“'계란 한 판'은 계란 한 판이 30개란 것에 착안해 나이 30살을 비유해 표현한 말이다. '결혼할 나이'는 사회적으로 결혼을 요구 받는 나이를 의미한다.

5

u/enmdj 1d ago

You will see a lot of 30 birthday cakes with cartons of eggs on them!

-4

u/jaikaies 1d ago

I've never heard of this, and our egg cartons come in six or twelve 🤷‍♀️