What does 잡아떼다 and 시치미떼다 have in common?

ANSWER: They can both mean "to feign ignorance" or "to play innocent."

잡다 means "to grasp" or "to take hold of," and 떼다 means "to remove" or "to take off," so 잡아떼다 literally means "to grab [something] and remove [it]." So, why can 잡아떼다 also mean "to feign ignorance" or "to play innocent"? In other words, what is the relationship between "removing something" and "playing innocent"?

ANSWER: 잡아떼다 is just another way of saying 시치미떼다, which literally means "to remove a 시치미." But what is a 시치미?

A 시치미 was an identification tag that Koreans who hunted with falcons used to attach to a tail feather of their falcons. The tag identified the owner of the falcon and where its owner lived in case the falcon ever got lost. Anyone who found the lost falcon could then return it to its owner.

However, apparently some people who found a lost falcon would sometimes remove the 시치미 and keep the falcon. If the real owner later came along and asked the person who found the falcon if the falcon had had an identification tag on it, the person who removed the tag would lie and say, "No."

I have read that although 잡아떼다 and 시치미떼다 both essentially mean "to lie," 잡아떼다 is a more determined lie.