Korea · 2026 week 38 (09.14 - 09.20) · 3 entries
Checked through Sep 19: Bamti · guilty bamti · bamti-ness, "장원영 OO" — 본인이 답했다, "OO 포기하겠습니다… 아니 하겠습니다… 죄송합니다" stand out. All 3 entries are below, each with when it started and the numbers behind it.
"Bamti" describes a person, object or situation that looks subtly tacky or naff. It started as a meme image built on a player name from the game LINE PLAY and spread through online communities. In 2026 it grew spin-offs: "guilty bamti" (tacky but you like it), "bamti vibes" and "bamti-ness". Trend outlet Careet covered it on September 16 as "the opposite of bamti is Jang Won-young".
A meme where you put "Jang Won-young" in front of anything good (a "Jang Won-young timetable", "Jang Won-young chicken"). It has settled in as the opposite of "bamti". On Sept 10, Jang Won-young herself replied on Bubble: "don't eat bamti food, eat Jang Won-young food... have a Jang Won-young day."
The source is a job applicant's texts: giving up the interview, then taking it after all, then giving up again. People fill the blank with studying, going to work and so on. HSAD picked it as the title of its September meme roundup.
Sources · 엘르 코리아 장원영 Memes · HSAD 월간 2026Memes 9월 · 캐릿 "요즘 뜨는 Memes" (2026.09.16) · Harper's Bazaar Korea · Gogumafarm · Preply Slang survey
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