물타기 (multagi)

물타기 (multagi) started out as a word for pouring water into liquor or milk to thin it down. Today it means dragging in some unrelated topic to blur the focus of a problem when you get called out for something you did wrong. The heart of it isn’t denial — it’s dilution. The person never flatly says they didn’t do it. They just pour a bucketful of some other story in next to it, so the original problem ends up less concentrated.

You hear this word most often in news comment sections and in the middle of arguments. On the day a celebrity’s apology statement goes up, if some other huge story happens to break at exactly the same hour, the comments will fill up without fail with 이거 물타기 아니냐 (igeo multagi aninya) — “isn’t this a distraction?” When someone in a meeting who blew a deadline suddenly brings up a cooperation problem with the team next door, somebody is thinking 물타기 시작됐네 (multagi sijakdwaenne) — “here comes the deflection.” It’s the same when friends fight. You’re in the middle of talking about what they did, and they come back with 너도 저번에 그랬잖아 (neodo jeobeone geuraetjana) — “you did the same thing last time” — and right at that moment, water gets poured into the conversation.

And there’s one spot where anyone who has studied a bit of Korean is guaranteed to trip at least once: 물타기 in stock-market talk means something else entirely.

The meaning of 물타기 splits into three layers.

First is 논점 흐리기 (nonjeom heurigi), muddying the point. This is the most common use, and the one this post mostly deals with. It refers to the move where the person being held responsible quietly shoves the topic off to the side. Used this way, 물타기 is clearly an accusation. It labels what the other person said not as wrong but as cowardly, so the temperature runs pretty hot.

Second is buying more of a stock or coin to bring down your average purchase price. When something you bought drops, you buy more to dilute your average cost. This one is closer to neutral than critical, and in practice it shows up a lot as self-mockery, as in 어제 또 물탔어 (eoje tto multasseo) — “I averaged down again yesterday.”

Third is the original sense: 희석 (huiseok), dilution. People rarely use it this way in daily life now, but it’s worth knowing as the root that explains where the first two meanings came from.

The grammar is simple. It’s a noun, and it usually takes 하다 (hada).

물타기 하지 마. (multagi haji ma.) — overwhelmingly the most common form in real conversation.
완전 물타기네. (wanjeon multagine.) — with -네 (-ne) attached, tossed out sarcastically.
물타기용 기사 (multagiyong gisa) — an article published for the purpose of 물타기.
The verb phrase gets used as is, too: 거기서 물 타지 마. (geogiseo mul taji ma.)

Seeing It in Real Conversation

Scene: Sunday night, at a parasol table in front of a convenience store. There’s a can of beer sitting in front of him, but Jun-kyung has been staring at nothing but the stock app on his phone this whole time.

Jun-kyung: 아, 지금 조금만 더 사면 평단가 내려가는데… 딱 한 번만 더 물타기 할까? Ah, if I buy just a little more now my average price drops… should I average down one more time?

Emily: 오빠 지난달에 주식 끊는다며. 나한테 잔고 보여준 게 누군데. Didn’t you say last month you were quitting stocks? Who was it that showed me their balance?

Jun-kyung: 야, 근데 너도 그때 코인 샀잖아. 그건 뭐 다른 줄 알아? Hey, but you bought crypto back then too. You think that’s any different?

Emily: 봐, 또 물타기 한다. 지금 오빠 얘기 하는 중이잖아. See, you’re deflecting again. We’re talking about you right now.

Jun-kyung: …아, 들켰네. 알겠어. 오늘은 앱 끌게. …Ah, busted. Fine. I’ll close the app for today.

Emily: 그래. 주식 물타기는 오빠 마음이지만, 말 물타기는 나한테 안 통해. Good. Averaging down on stocks is your call, but watering down the conversation doesn’t work on me.

Using It This Way Sounds Off

✗ (To your department head in a meeting) 부장님, 지금 물타기 하시는 거예요? (bujangnim, jigeum multagi hasineun geoyeyo?) ✓ (To your department head in a meeting) 부장님, 그 얘기는 이따 따로 보고드리고 지금은 이 안건부터 정리하면 어떨까요? (bujangnim, geu yaegineun itta ttaro bogodeurigo jigeumeun i angeonbuteo jeongnihamyeon eotteolkkayo?) — “Sir, how about I report on that separately later and we wrap up this agenda item first?” → 물타기 is a word that labels the other person’s intent as cowardly, so using it to a senior’s face isn’t a correction — it’s a frontal attack. With someone above you, the safe move is to phrase it as a suggestion to steer the topic back.

✗ (When a friend has simply brought up another topic) 야, 물타기 하지 마. (ya, multagi haji ma.) ✓ (When a friend has simply brought up another topic) 야, 딴 얘기 하지 말고. (ya, ttan yaegi haji malgo.) / 자꾸 삼천포로 빠지네. (jakku samcheonporo ppajine.) → 물타기 always carries the underlying intent of dodging responsibility. Use it when nobody is being held accountable and the other person will feel wronged, thinking, “What am I supposed to be hiding?”

Example Sentences by Situation

1. When a coworker who missed a deadline in a meeting suddenly starts blaming the team next door (between peers, 반말 (banmal, casual speech))

아니 지금 왜 디자인팀 얘기가 나와. 그거 물타기잖아. (ani jigeum wae dijainpim yaegiga nawa. geugeo multagijana.) Why are we suddenly talking about the design team? That’s just deflecting.

This is the moment when the meeting is about why the deadline slipped and the answer leaks off sideways. Since they’re at the same rank, you can jab straight at it in casual speech. If the other person were your boss, you’d have to soften it to 그 부분은 따로 보고, 일정부터 확인할까요? (geu bubuneun ttaro bogo, iljeongbuteo hwaginhalkkayo?) — “Let’s cover that part separately; shall we check the schedule first?”

2. A friend clinging to a stock that’s lost half its value, laughing at himself (the stock-market sense)

나 어제 또 물타기 했어. 이번이 진짜 마지막이야. (na eoje tto multagi haesseo. ibeoni jinjja majimagiya.) I averaged down again yesterday. This is really the last time.

Here 물타기 isn’t an accusation. It’s closer to poking fun at yourself. 진짜 마지막이야 (jinjja majimagiya) is practically a set phrase in Korean stock conversations, so if you memorize this sentence whole, you can drop it at the next round of drinks.

3. When other articles come flooding out on the day a big scandal breaks (online comment style)

하필 오늘 이런 기사가 나오는 거, 딱 봐도 물타기지. (hapil oneul ireon gisaga naoneun geo, ttak bwado multagiji.) An article like this coming out today of all days — it’s obviously a distraction.

This sentence structure shows up constantly in Korean internet comments. 딱 봐도 (ttak bwado) means “you can tell the second you look,” and it pairs beautifully with 물타기.

Polite and Casual Forms, and Similar Expressions

The casual form is 물타기 하지 마 (multagi haji ma) and the polite form is 물타기 하지 마세요 (multagi haji maseyo). But switching to polite speech doesn’t blunt the blade. The content itself — calling someone a coward — is strong no matter how you dress it. In official settings or in writing, 논점을 흐리지 말아 주세요 (nonjeomeul heuriji marra juseyo) — “please don’t muddy the point” — is far safer.

Expression	Temperature / Strength	Where it’s used
물타기 (multagi)	Strong. Frames the other person as cowardly	Peers, comment sections, political news. Risky to a senior’s face
논점 흐리기 (nonjeom heurigi)	Neutral, analytical	Meetings, debates, articles. Safe in polite-speech settings
딴소리 (ttansori)	Light	Close relationships. No nuance of dodging responsibility
발뺌 (palttaem)	Strong	When someone flatly insists “it wasn’t me”
삼천포로 빠지다 (samcheonporo ppajida)	Neutral, humorous	When the conversation wanders off with no intent behind it

It’s especially worth nailing down the difference from 발뺌 (palttaem). 발뺌 is denying the wrongdoing outright; 물타기 is neither admitting nor denying it, and instead pouring another story in beside it to cloud things. 물타기 is considered the more cunning of the two.

Cultural Background — A Bucket of Water in the Makgeolli

The word-building here is transparent enough to see right through. 물 (mul), water, plus 타다 (tada). The 타다 here is the same one as in 커피에 설탕을 타다 (keopie seoltangeul tada), “to stir sugar into coffee” — that is, to mix something into a liquid. Add the noun-forming -기 (-gi) and you get 물타기. Originally it referred to liquor sellers pouring water into makgeolli to stretch the quantity. The volume goes up, but the taste thins out. That exact picture, carried straight over into arguments, is today’s 물타기. The amount of wrongdoing stays the same; you just pour in another story and lower the concentration.

The stock-market 물타기 comes from the same picture. You mix cheap shares in with expensive ones to dilute your average price — that is literally watering something down. Amusingly, stock communities sometimes call the opposite situation, buying more of a rising stock and thereby raising your average price, 불타기 (bultagi) — “fire-mixing.” It’s a bit of wordplay pairing water with fire.

There’s a reason this word gets heard so often in Korea. Entertainment and political news turns over on a daily cycle, and every single article picks up thousands of comments in real time. So people have developed the habit of reading not just what an article says but its timing — “why is this coming out now, of all moments?” 물타기 is a word that grew out of that habit.

The setup is a staple in Korean dramas too. The scene where a difficult question lands at a press conference and the PR team rushes out a different press release; the scene where a defense attorney in court drags up unrelated history to shake a witness’s credibility. Even when the word 물타기 is never spoken in the dialogue, Korean viewers watch those scenes and think of exactly this word. One expression ends up summarizing an entire scene.

Today’s Quiz

Which of the following uses 물타기 most naturally?

① 국이 너무 짜서 물타기 했어. (gugi neomu jjaseo multagi haesseo.) ② 내 지각 얘기 하다가 갑자기 형 얘기는 왜 꺼내. 물타기 하지 마. (nae jigak yaegi hadaga gapjagi hyeong yaegineun wae kkeonae. multagi haji ma.) ③ 오랜만에 만났는데 우리 물타기 좀 하자. (oraenmane mannanneunde uri multagi jom haja.)

The answer is ②. Someone called out for their own mistake drags in another person’s story to blur the focus — a textbook scene of 물타기. In ①, actual water was poured in, so it has to be 물 탔어 (mul tasseo). And ③ uses 물타기 as if it were an activity you enjoy together, which simply doesn’t make sense. 물타기 is something one person does, and the person on the receiving end isn’t laughing.

The definitions, example sentences, and dialogue in this post are all original writing. ‘물타기’ could not be confirmed as a headword in the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr), so no dictionary citations are included.