먹다
meok-da
In Korean you also eat your resolve and eat your years
The picture Something outside crosses the mouth into the body and becomes yours, past taking back. meokda is chewing it down and making it yours; masida is letting it flow down.
Where the picture shows up in 먹다
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Swallowing food
점심은 뭐 먹었어요?
jeom-si-meun mwo meo-geo-sseo-yo
What did you have for lunch?
The spoon goes into the mouth and the bowl empties notch by notch
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Swallowing medicine
하루에 세 번 약을 먹어요.
ha-ru-e se beon ya-geul meo-geo-yo
I take the pills three times a day.
A tablet rides a mouthful of water down the throat
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Swallowing a resolve until it hardens
이번에는 꼭 하겠다고 마음을 먹었어요.
i-beo-ne-neun kkok ha-get-da-go ma-eu-meul meo-geo-sseo-yo
This time I made up my mind to do it.
A wobbling lump of resolve is gulped down and the chest goes firm
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Swallowing a year
저도 한 살 더 먹었네요.
jeo-do han sal deo meo-geon-ne-yo
So I'm a year older too.
One page of the calendar goes into the body and the age notch clicks up
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Swallowing fear
아이가 겁을 먹었어요.
a-i-ga geo-beul meo-geo-sseo-yo
The child got badly scared.
A child sees something frightening, swallows the fright whole, and stiffens
All of it in one picture
meokda is the picture of swallowing what was outside into yourself. A spoon going in is eating a meal; a pill going down the throat is taking medicine. Gulping down a wobbling decision until it hardens is making up your mind, a page of the calendar going in is turning a year older, and swallowing a fright whole until the body stiffens is getting scared.