# 이게 뭐라고 잡으면 용을 쓰게 되어있어



## 82riceballs

Hi all,

I was watching 비정상회담 and they were doing arm wrestling (팔씨름).
When two guys (one of whom is 성시경) who are good friends are set to compete against one another, 
they're asked to say a line to their opponent.

So 성시경 said, 
"이게 뭐라고 잡으면 용을 쓰게 되어있어"

I have no idea what he means... Could you tell me what this means? I don't get the meaning of 잡다 and 용을 쓰다...

Thanks in advance!


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## dhchong

잡다: grasp, catch
용쓰다: try very hard, do something with one's full strength


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> "이게 뭐라고* (손을) *잡으면 용을 쓰게 되어있어" Could you tell me what this means?


This is just for fun, but once we hold hands, we're likely to use maxium efforts (to win against each other).


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## 82riceballs

Ahh I see! So I just realized that I dont understand the meaning of 이게 뭐라고... I understand the literal meaning "what this is called" but I don't get why it's used here...Do you think you could give me few examples of this used at the beginning of a sentence?


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## Kross

82riceballs said:


> I don't get why it's used here...Do you think you could give me few examples of this used at the beginning of a sentence?


 이게 뭐라고 설레지? What is this that makes my heart going pit a pat?
이게 뭐라고 왜이래 긴장되지? What is this that makes me getting cold feet?

This pattern of 이게 뭐라고 can be often used to tell how small and meaningless this activity would normally mean. And it is usually followed by how excited and nervous the speaker is feeling right now, because more importance and meaning has been added on the activity for some reason this time. As for the arm-wrestling, they probably did that just for fun, but with everybody watching it and two guys competing, the participants started to be warred about the result, feeling forced to do their best to win and keep their pride.


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## dhchong

Think this way:  You are looking at or thinking about something. And you're concerning about it somewhat. But you think or believe it's not of matter. 
                       Than you may say to yourself  "What is this? It's nothing." 

 In Korean, you say '이게 뭐라고'  when you mean  'What is this? It's nothing'.


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