# 골탕 먹다



## vientito

골탕 먹다


A friend of mine explained to me that this refers to someone being taken in or fooled.  Usually used for light matter, nothing concerning serious things (money/fraud).

Yet when I look it up dictionary it only says it means someone who has suffered great loss (emphasis on great).  Well, that sounds pretty different from what my friend has told me.

He happens to be a native speaker so I place more trust on him than the dictionary naturally but  I am wondering, if in fact the original meaning may have evolved a bit differently from current usage?


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## Kross

I agree with your friend on the point that 골탕 먹다 is usually used on a light matter. And it seems that the original meaning has changed over time. 골탕 먹다 literally means ‘to eat broth where animal bones are boiled down. I guess I need to do some more researches to be sure.

The national institute of the Korean language(국어국립원, http://www.korean.go.kr) answers to my question that the origin of the expression has not been clearly studied. This is what they said. ‘‘골탕’의 어원은 분명히 밝혀지지 않은 말이므로 답변해 드리기 어렵습니다’


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## lizmea

Gosh I am dumbfounded now to find out that 골탕 먹다 is indeed listed as a very serious loss/damage in the dictionary.....

I agree with Kross and your friend, vientito!


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## vientito

thanks again for your help


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