What Does This Mean?
Korean internet term for money spent impulsively to relieve stress or irritation, roughly "what-the-hell expense". It is used half-jokingly for things like a taxi ride, takeout food or an online purchase made after a bad day. The first syllables are a vulgar expletive, so the word is informal and mildly crude.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
"After a miserable overtime week, he called the pricey fried chicken delivery his "시발비용" and ordered a second side dish."
LORE & ORIGIN
Compound of 시발 (a vulgar expletive) and 비용 (expense). Korean press from 2017 reported that the word spread in late November 2016 after a tweet by a Twitter user went viral, and treated it as a consumption trend among people in their twenties and thirties, linking it to job and housing worries and to the "YOLO" mood; English-language coverage rendered it as a "what-the-hell expense". Articles distinguish it from ordinary impulse buying by stressing that an external source of stress triggers the spending.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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