Korean phrase dwenjang-nyo 된장녀. The name comes from a kind of modern Korean woman who will live as frugally as possible on a cheap beanpaste stew so they can save up as much money as possible to spend on designer shoes and handbags.
2. (In science fiction) A member of the fifth caste of the Beanoid species, a race of giant sentient bipedal extraterrestrial bean beings. Beanmasters form a ruling elite over the other castes that make up the bulk of the Beanoid population and their directions shape and steer the course the Beanoid Empire takes in its dealings with other sentient species.
All hail Beanmaster Charles- Supreme Master of The Beans!
"… And so it came to pass in the 5,988th year of the Galactic Era that the Beanmasters united the quarreling factions of the Beanoids, and set them on the path to forging what would in time become the formidable Beanoid Empire: the Federation's direst foe."
~Extract from The Official History of the Bean Wars: Volume I
The grindset is a contemporary ideology of self-exploitation disguised as strength, deeply tied to the aesthetics of the “sigma male” and to new digital forms of patriarchy. It promotes the idea that human worth depends on productivity, economic success, absolute emotional control, and the ability to work endlessly, turning vulnerability, rest, community, and tenderness into signs of weakness. Beneath its rhetoric of discipline and power often lies a profound inability to relate healthily to pain, fragility, and human interdependence.
“That’s the grindset, brother. While weak men sleep and complain, sigma males stay disciplined, work in silence, suppress emotions, and build power while everyone else wastes time chasing comfort.”