Everyday life Korean idiom : What does 엎어지면 코 닿을 데 mean? The origin and realistic example sentences!

Like every other language, Korean has tons of fun and witty idiomatic expressions.

The question that can arise when learning Korean idioms on your own is, "But do native Korean speakers actually use these expressions in everyday life?".

So here's a heads up. I guarantee that the Korean idioms I introduce in this blog are only the ones that are actually very common among the many Korean idioms.

Today, we're going to learn "엎어지면 코 닿을 데" as an idiomatic expression in Korean.

 

Let’s start by breaking down the phrase "엎어지면 코 닿을 데" word by word.

 

엎어지다 : [verb] fall down

코 : [noun] nose

닿다 : [verb] reach, touch

데 : [noun] place, somewhere

 

If you've got this far and chuckled, that means your Korean is pretty good.

That’s right. You can guess that the phrase "엎어지면 코 닿을 데" means something like "A place your nose can reach if you fall down".

 

So, let's take a closer look at each one.

First, we need to know how the two verbs in the phrase "엎어지면 코 닿을 데" are conjugated.

 

엎어지다 : The basic form of the verb, fall down

엎어지면 : if/when (somebody) falls down

 

Note that the verb "엎어지다" means the same thing as the more commonly used verb "넘어지다".

 

닿다 : The basic form of the verb, reach

닿을 : (something that somebody) can reach, or reachable

 

So, the chunk, "닿을 데", means something like this ;

닿을 데 : a place that somebody can reach

 

You can also use words like "곳" or "장소" instead of the noun "데".

Alternatively, it's also common to use the word "거리(distance)", which is not synonymous with "데", to say "엎어지면 코 닿을 거리". 

Of course, they mean the same thing.

 

Finally, the conclusion.

The Korean idiom "엎어지면 코 닿을 데" means "a very short distance".

Literally, it's the distance that your nose would touch if you fell. Since you're most likely no more than 2 meters tall, that's pretty close, right?

 

In English, it's roughly equivalent to “a stone's throw from something”, “within a stone's cast”.

 

Let me give you some realistic examples.

These are examples that many Koreans actually use in their daily lives.

 

[1] 뭘 하느라 이렇게 늦었어? 엎어지면 코 닿을 데 살면서!

What took you so long to come here? You live within a stone's throw!

 

[2] 30분 더 있다가 출발해도 돼. 엎어지면 코 닿을 거리야.

We can leave in another 30 minutes. It’s extremely close.

 

[3] 

Q : 넌 시부모님이랑 같이 안 살아서 좋겠다.

Q: It would be good for you not to live with your in-laws.

A : 같이 사는거나 다름없어. 엎어지면 코 닿을 데 사시거든.

A: It's the same as living with them, they're living super close.

 

[4] 

Q : 어두워서 무서워. 나 좀 집까지 데려다 줘.

Q: I'm scared because it's dark. Please take me home.

A : 헛소리한다! 엎어지면 코 닿을 거리잖아!

A: Bullshit! You're living a stone's throw from here!

 

[5] 

Q : 이 아파트 사세요! 지하철역에서 엎어지면 코 닿을 거리예요!

Q : Buy this apartment, It’s a stone’s throw from a subway station!

A : 아니, 여보세요! 도보 15분이 어떻게 엎어지면 코 닿을 거리예요?

A : Hey, excuse me? How is a 15-minute walk a stone’s throw?

 

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It will be a great motivation for me to continue this Korean Idiom series.