ajumma

— We were standing in the heart of the jimjilbang^([sic]), or Korean bathhouse, in a steaming, all-female bathing room where scrubs are administered (as they are across the land) by strict middle-aged women, more than a few of them with potbellies, who wear nothing but sexy black lace bras and underwear. Arcadia had whispered to me that the women were ajummas, which means "aunties" and connotes matronly, working-class women known for no-nonsense warmth and authority.