"놀려먹곤 했다"

[cheri]

I'm reading (and re-reading!) a book called 아홉살 인생, and there are quite a few things I've come across that I've had questions about...

One, for instance:
...나를 놀려먹곤 했다.
My initial guess is that it's a combination of 놀리다 and ~곤 하다 (something that used to be done frequently/habitually), but I'm not sure how the 먹다 comes into play? Can someone please enlighten me if you can do this with other verbs? ^^

Also:
나는 공포에 질려 앙앙 울어대는 도리밖에 없었다.
My question is around "울어대." Is 대 being used to modify 울다 into a noun?

Another question:
What does 사추리 mean? It was in this context:
사추리가 축축하거나 배가 출출하면 세상은 나빠졌고...

Thank you ^^

[manyakumi]

Hi, Cheri.
Let me explain a bit.

...나를 놀려먹곤 했다.
My initial guess is that it's a combination of 놀리다 and ~곤 하다 (something that used to be done frequently/habitually), but I'm not sure how the 먹다 comes into play? Can someone please enlighten me if you can do this with other verbs? ^^

This 먹다 is a secondary verb being used in order to emphasize the main verb negatively.

나를 놀려 먹곤 했다.
He (or she) used to pulling my leg. (Your analysis was excellent)

뒷마당에서 공놀이를 하다가 유리창을 깨 먹었다.
I broke the window while I was playing with a ball.

내일 약속 절대 잊어 먹지 마세요.
Please don't forget tomorrow's appointment.

Also:
나는 공포에 질려 앙앙 울어대는 도리밖에 없었다.
My question is around "울어대." Is 대 being used to modify 울다 into a noun?

울다 + 대다 -> 울어대다
먹다 + 대다 -> 먹어대다
하다 + 대다 -> 해대다

Same with above.
It makes a verb emphasized slightly in the negative nuance .

Another question:
What does 사추리 mean? It was in this context:
사추리가 축축하거나 배가 출출하면 세상은 나빠졌고...

I think it's a dialect for 샅 or 사타구니 meaning "crotch".
To say 사타구니가 축축하다 seems to be a metaphor but I have no idea what it means.

Hope this helps.

[cheri]

Manyakumi씨~ Thanks a billion trillion gazillion! This was really helpful.

[yhenry]

This 먹다 is a secondary verb being used in order to emphasize the main verb negatively.

나를 놀려 먹곤 했다.
He (or she) used to pulling my leg. (Your analysis was excellent)

뒷마당에서 공놀이를 하다가 유리창을 깨 먹었다.
I broke the window while I was playing with a ball.

내일 약속 절대 잊어 먹지 마세요.
Please don't forget tomorrow's appointment.

right, we call the second last verb 'main verb', which is the main point of act, and the last verb 'assisting verb' adding more act to the main verb.
Without the assisting verb, the main idea is still there, but if you take the main verb out, the original thought is lost.

나를 놀리다(main idea) + 먹다 (ate me up)
유리창을 깨다(main idea)+ 먹었다 (ate and gone)

It works just like this; broke loose, help free, get going, etc.

Yes, in the case of 먹다, it emphasize the main act adding negative or unfavorable feeling to the primary act.
# 약속을 잊어 먹다 promise forget + eaten (gone)
# 노예처럼 부려 먹다 as slave used + driven

If you are curious about we Koreans eating habit, look up 먹다 in Korean dictionary; you will understand why we use 먹다 in such a way.
We EAT all kind of things like medicine, vitamin, cigarette, bribe, insult, fear, mind, prize, and more. 약 먹다, 욕 먹다, 겁 먹다, 마음 먹다, etc.

먹다 is used like you use get almost any and every occasions.

Also:
나는 공포에 질려 앙앙 울어대는 도리밖에 없었다.
My question is around "울어대." Is 대 being used to modify 울다 into a noun?

울다 + 대다 -> 울어대다
먹다 + 대다 -> 먹어대다
하다 + 대다 -> 해대다

Same with above example.
Except, 대다 has a few different uses but in this case, it depicts of action done too much.

Another question:
What does 사추리 mean? It was in this context:
사추리가 축축하거나 배가 출출하면 세상은 나빠졌고...

사추리 maybe is a typo, and you don't want to learn words we Koreans are unfamiliar with, unless you want to go into literature.

[cheri]

Thanks, yhenry.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've learned how to put a lot of helping verbs together in Korean...