In English, we have a certain phrase, apparently called a panagram, that makes use of all letters of the alphabet while still making sense as a sentence. You probably know it. "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." You may be interested to know that Korean has a version of this also.
The default Korean example
The most common and famous version in Korean is:
다람쥐 헌 쳇바퀴에 타고파.
The squirrel would like to ride the old wheel.
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| Image: 새 폰트가 그러던데 "다람쥐 헌 쳇바퀴에 타고파" |
This simple sentence makes use of all 14 standard Korean consonants (ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ) and most of the standard direct vowels (ㅣㅗㅓㅏㅜ, I don't see ㅡ there exactly) For simplicity, it excludes double-consonants (like ㄲ or ㅆ) and double vowels (ㅛㅕㅑㅐㅔㅠ).
I can see why this caught on. Not only is it adorably cute and simple, but also actually seems like a great equivalent to the English version.
In fact this panagram has been the default standard for Korean fonts, stemming back to the Windows Vista era fontbooks, which used this sentence to demonstrate how Korean fonts would look:
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| Windows fontbook demonstrating a Korean font with the squirrel phrase. Image: 네이트 뉴스 |
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| More examples. Image: 윈도우10, 폰트/ 글꼴 설치하기 |
Prior to Vista, Windows seems to have displayed all Korean font samples simply as:
Windows가 지원하는 한글 글꼴 1234567890
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| Generic Windows Korean font example. Image: 자간과 띄어쓰기 간격 조절법(02)-조합형 폰트 – 좋은생각 |
Other examples incorporating more rules
In fact, similar to English, there are many other examples that manage to cram in all the Korean letters into simple sentences, though I think none have the finesse of the squirrel one. Here are a few more.
동틀 녘 햇빛 포개짐
Around sunrise, the layered sunlight
Not exactly a sentence, but a partial phrase that uses all 14 consonants. A little more poetic.
그 늙다리만 본선에 진출케 투표해
Vote only for that old man to advance to the finals.
This one uses all the main consonants, but with the added twist of using them in their correct ABC order (in this case, ㄱㄴㄷ... order) at each syllable block. So this could be similar to, for example, an English sentence like A Big Colorful Dog Eats...
한편 터키 참전 용사 비밀리 돈 남겨
Meanwhile, the Turkish veteran secretly left money behind.
Same idea as above, but this one goes in reverse-ABC order, i.e. ZXY... (ㅎㅍㅌ...) at each syllable block.
유쾌했던 땃쥐 토끼풀 쫓기 바쁨
The happy shrew is busy chasing clovers.
Another cute variation, and fits well with the "quick brown fox" or "squirrel" theme. But this time, this sentence manages to cram into one sentence all the double consonants!
겉표지보다 큰 몇 향수류
Some perfumes are bigger than their packages.
Amazingly, this one manages to not only cram in every standard consonant, but also every standard vowel, this time including the vowels in their "y" form (i.e. both 오 and 요, etc.) Amazing that someone could do this and keep it so short.
웬 초콜릿? 제가 원했던 건 뻥튀기 쬐끔과 의류예요. 얘야, 왜 또 불평?
Why chocolate? What I want is some puffed rice and some clothing. Hey guys, why are you complaining?
Now we're reaching the big leagues. Here we use all current Korean characters: single consonants (ㄱㄴㄷ), double consonants (ㄲㅉㄸ), single vowels (ㅗㅓㅏ), double vowels (ㅖㅐㅔ). It's all in there. Understandably a longer sentence, but still, compare its apparent length to the English "The quick brown fox..." and you can see how dense, phonogramatically, this sentence actually is.
키스의 고유 조건은 입술끼리 만나야 되고 특별한 요령은 필요치 않다
The fundamental condition for kissing is that lips should be together, and no further skills are needed.
And now for an extra challenge, consider the fact that Korean letters have different "shapes" depending on their location in the syllable block. For example (ㄱ) can be written in its curvy elongated form as in 가 or its stubby short form as in 고. What if we consider these different shapes? The sentence above, aside from being strangely romantic, is special in that it includes all these forms. So you'll see a (ㅂ) in both its initial form and its badchim (받침) form. Same with all the other consonants (though I don't see a ㅋ in badchim position). Maybe we could have included that kissing ought to be done in the kitchen (부엌).
Some other examples
Although the squirrel example the most famous and now the de-facto default, there are plenty of other panagram sentences that make use of all 14 of the main Korean consonants, in any position. Here's are just a few other than those I've mentioned:
닭 콩팥 훔친 집사
A butler who stole a chicken kidney
물컵 속 팥 찾던 형
The older brother who looks for red beans in the cup
자동차 바퀴 틈새가 파랗니
Doesn't the groove on the car tire look blue?
And here's another funny one I liked that managed to fit in each consonant and have them in the right ABC order:
그는 독립문 보수에 지쳐 칼퇴 표함
He expressed his exhaustion and clocked-out from repairing the Independence Gate.
Not sure if that made sense. He's tired from working on the Independence Gate and is going to call it a day. Whatever, it doesn't need to make much sense. Just have all the right letters to start each syllable in order.
Namu Wiki has surprisingly plenty more examples of sentences like this. Multiple examples that go in reverse-ABC order, that include vowels, double vowels, etc. I'm surprised by how many examples there actually are. Too many to reprint here so just check them out for at the NamuWiki link below.
Source: 팬그램 - 나무위키
Source: 폰트를 설치할 때 나오는 다람쥐 헌 쳇바퀴에 타고파 라는 문장의 의미 :: 히읗
And of course there are plenty in English too other than "The quick brown fox..." In getting distracted from this post I came across another that brought a tear to my eye:
Watch "Jeopardy!", Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game.
Miss you, Alex.
And finally, if you're interested in this topic, you may also be interested in the fact that, like English, Korean letters in modern fonts employ kerning (variable spacing between letters, opposite of monospace) to make words look more natural and pleasing to the eye. As a result of these slight variations in spacing, you can end up with pretty waving patterns that resemble ASCII art.
으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으으후루꾸꾸루후으
Neat.
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