액땜 [ aekttaem ]
액 in 액땜 means ‘disaster’ or ‘calamity’. 땜 is from 때우다 meaning ‘to make shift’, ‘to solder / tinker’ etc. And 액땜 means ‘to prevent a worse or worst possible disaster with a relatively small and bearable misfortune‘.
Koreans say this to each other or to themselves a lot in January and February when something bad happened, hoping that the misfortune is the worst incident of the year and nothing else bad happens any more.
ex)
A) 폰을 잃어버렸어. (I lost my phone.) B) 어떻해. 그래도 액땜했다 쳐. (Too bad. But think it is 액땜.)
A) I broke my ankle. (발목이 부러졌어.) B) 아이고, 액땜 제대로 했다. (Oh my. You did 액땜 really well.)
