[New Slang Dictionary] Naettochul - Monday Stress

An advertisement for digestive medicine published in a newspaper in 1977. It confirms that the "Monday blues" feared by office workers on Monday mornings existed even back then. Photo by Daehan Jungoe Pharmaceutical

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] “Office and personal life are separate. When I go to the office, I leave my castle behind, and when I return to the castle, I leave the office behind.” Charles Dickens described the lifestyle of contemporary workers separating home and workplace in his novel Great Expectations like this. London, which suffered from explosive overpopulation due to the 18th-century Industrial Revolution, saw a continuous flow of people moving their residences to the suburbs for a better life following the opening of the railway. The railway created a culture of long-distance commuting. As transportation methods such as private cars replacing railways and subways with higher frequency developed afterward, more people began living in the suburbs while working in central London. In the early days of commuting by train, the British had to worry every night about their life-threatening commute the next day due to frequent accidents caused by inexperienced operation. To reduce train accidents, it was essential for trains to keep their schedules, which required precise timekeeping. Consequently, the watch industry rapidly developed, and the British, who previously only distinguished between AM and PM, began taking watches out of their pockets to check the time by the minute to catch their train schedules.

Nattochul is an abbreviation of ‘Naeil Tto Chulgeun’ (meaning ‘going to work again tomorrow’). It expresses the stress about Monday following the two-day weekend break of Saturday and Sunday, similar to the term ‘Monday blues.’ The weekend rest disrupts the daily rhythm, causing mental and physical fatigue that escalates to a level of fear before going to work. University students reportedly change it to ‘Nattoil’ (meaning ‘Naeil Tto Ilgyosi’ or ‘another day of classes tomorrow’). The burden of Nattochul, which emerged during Dickens’s time, has continued through multiple generations until now. There is no special remedy for Nattochul, and netizens advise that ‘time is the best medicine.’

Usage Example

A: I feel like I can survive after resting on the weekend. Even playing is tiring now.
B: That’s why Friday is called ‘Bulgeum’ (meaning ‘Fire Friday’). You can drink without worrying about tomorrow.
A: Exactly. These days, even after work when I have a drink, I find myself wondering, ‘What day is tomorrow?’
B: Do you know what’s most important right now? It’s Nattochul.
A: Ah... Monday is scarier than a ghost.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.