Origin Story
The geodeol was a lowly servant attached to the Sabok-si, the office that managed the court's palanquins and horses. When the king or a minister processed through the streets, the geodeol walked ahead wearing a felt hat, crying out "Make way!" to clear the path. Though low in rank, he spent his days loudly driving people aside, and so naturally took to swaggering, swaying his body grandly from side to side. From this came the verbs geodeureok-georida and geodeulmeok-georida — "to put on airs, to strut." Then this swaying, teetering image went a step further: when a household began to wobble and its capital buckled toward collapse, people said it had geodeol-natda. The strutting gait of a mere servant became the name for the spectacle of an entire fortune crashing down.
A single strutting gesture from a lowly servant branched in two directions: into the attitude of "putting on airs" and into the catastrophe of "going broke." A swaying walk became a swaying household.
Meaning Evolution
How It Is Used
He overextended himself in business, and in the end the whole family was ruined.
He fell into gambling, and a once-stable household went completely broke.
A single year's bad harvest left the village on the verge of ruin.
Related Words
Memory Hook
The geodeol, swaying and strutting ahead of a procession → wobble, wobble → a household that wobbles and collapses: geodeol-natda, "to go broke."
"The strut of a servant showing off ahead of a procession became the name for a collapsing household."
