위인들의 삶의 지혜와 명언 20가지

What does “guseullida” mean in Korean?

구슬리다 is persuasion by softening. You coax a reluctant child, a sulking friend or a nervous colleague into doing what you want by being nice about it. Korean keeps it apart from 설득하다, “to convince with arguments,” and from 꼬시다, “to lure.” 구슬리다 always implies the other person needed handling before they would move.

The Mark Twain line in this collection uses it precisely: 누구든 당장 내던져버릴 수 있는 게 아니라 잘 구슬려 한 번에 한 계단씩 오르게 해야 한다 — nobody can be flung anywhere, you have to coax them up one step at a time. In daily speech it is mostly children and moods: 애를 구슬려서 재웠어요, “I coaxed the kid to sleep.”