Word of the Day: Noona Slayer

Noona Slayer n. 1. A younger man pursuing a romantic relationship with a significantly older woman. 2. The Korean male counterpart to the American female "cougar." ex. I didn't think I'd like Lee Min Ho as a noona slayer, but I did. 

Here in the US, pop media has been obsessed and scandalized with the idea of "cougars," an older woman pursuing a much younger man. But for Korean pop media, it's the much younger man who is pursuing the older woman. Hence the origin of "noona slayers." These different terms seem like opposite sides of the same coin, but "noona slayer" infers that the relationship is male initiated while "cougar" implies that it is female initiated. Probably the biggest difference is that in western society, cougars are still considered slightly scandalous but no one bats an eye when Korean dramas cast younger men with older women. That is, unless the guy is very young, in which case the actress is then considered a pedo-noona. Now for the fun part.

My List of Top 10 Korean Noona Slayers!

1. The Telepathic Noona Slayer. Since I Hear Your Voice is ending this week, I'm listing them first. Lee Bo Young is 10 1/2 years older than Lee Jong Suk.

Noona Slayer Rule # 7- The age difference goes away completely when you are both dressed like high school students

 2. The Time Traveling Noona Slayer. Lee Min Ho and Kim Hee Sun in Faith have a whopping 10 year age difference. It's weird at first, but I promise, after episode 13 or 14 you totally forget about it.

Kim Hee Sun, how do you not run your fingers through Lee Min Ho's hair all day long? Also, how do you keep your hear so shiny and perfectly made up in ancient times?

3. The Most Adorable Noona Slayer Ever. Yoon Shi Yoon. How can you not melt when this boy smiles? You can't. It's impossible, even for this very uptight police woman, Lee Ji Ah, in Me too, Flower! ( which is the worst name ever for a K-drama). But, more importantly she is 111/2 years older than he is.

She started her period while he was still in diapers.

4.The 'My Baby Needs a Mama' Noona Slayer. In Oh My Lady, Choi Siwon discovers that he has the most adorable daughter (Yoon Shi Yoon level adorable). So what does he do? He falls in love with Park Chae Rim, the nanny. 

Park Chae Rim, you could also be Siwon's nanny since you are 9 years older than him.

5. The Body Switching Noona Slayer.Ok, so Lee Min Jung fell in love with little Shin Won Ho, who is almost 10 years younger than her in Big.

You can't blame her cause most of the time he looks like Tom Hanks... oops I meant Gong Yoo. Sorry, I've haven't seen it yet.

6. The 'So What if You have 6 Months to Live!' Noona Slayer. If your dying wish is to fall in love with a crazy hot guy, may I recommend Lee Dong Wook who was 6 years younger than his Scent of a Woman costar, Kim Sun Ah.

Yes, please protect her face from premature aging. You know what, protect it from regular aging as well.

7. The Dating Contract Noona Slayer. If you didn't want to fall in love, you shouldn't have written a contract to be in a fake relationship. Everyone knows that! Unfortunately Hyun Bin and Kim Sun Ah found that out the hard way in My Lovely Sam-Soon. 

What is 7 years or 15 pounds when you really love someone?

 8. The Student-Teacher Noona Slayer.  Okay, so Lee Chung Ah opened the door originally in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop by mistaking his age and calling him oppa, but Jung Il Woo happily ran through that door to win her heart. Funny that this drama, more than any other that I've mentioned is specifically about  noona slaying, but Lee Chung Ah is actually only 3 years older than him.

Your babies would be so attractive, they would come with a warning label.

9.The Original Gangster Noona Slayers.The opening lyrics of SHINee's debut song  literally begins, "Noona you are so pretty." After 5 years of honing their skills, they are the most practiced and professional noona slayers on the list. I love them so much. 

Slaying noonas since 2008.

 10. Real Life Attempted Noona Slaying Fail. I saw this in the news recently and I had to include it. You remember Ah Sun Young from Dream High? She played Mr. Kang's alcoholic sister. Well, in Dream high she was a bit of a cougar... at least in her imagination.

Well it turns out that she was recently approached by a real life noona slayer. According to her, he was a male idol 12 years younger than her that bragged about how he was going to win her over. Apparently he was very persistent and she had a really hard time shaking him loose. Check it out.


Now it's your turn. Leave a comment and tell me which noona slayers I missed.

~Autumn