A hot topic in Korea these days is the use of a simple word “loser.”

On KBS 2TV’s “Chat with Global Beauties,” the program invited female college students to have a nice chat with the beauties. In one segment, there was an anonymous vote taken for a series of questions. One question was, “Would you date someone shorter than you?”

Of course, a few of the girls said, “no,” so one student, Lee Do-kyoung, spoke up, but her reason was, “Short men are losers.” Say what?! She even used the English word, “loser.” She then explained that the men have to be taller than 180cm. Maybe the meaning of the word got lost in translation for her, but many viewers took it that she meant that short men are inferior people.

There was a huge backlash by netizens and the media. Many saying that she wasn’t pretty enough to talk about others that way (so, pretty people can put down others?). She put an apology on her Cyworld, but in that apology, she spelled loser as “luser.” Uh-oh. After more internet abuse, Lee Do-kyoung soon closed her Cyworld homepage.

“Loser” has become a bit of a catch-phrase in the wake of the netizen uproar. So far, it’s been developed into a T-shirt! Not a bad design. (I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these!)

If anything, I feel sorry for Super Junior’s Leeteuk and Eunhyuk, who are both celebrity guests on the show that day. Leeteuk is 178cm, and Eunhyuk is 176cm tall. Poor guys, getting dissed on TV like that.