Several stories are told about the origin of "rolling along fine, then slipping off to Samcheonpo," and none can be pinned down in the records — they are all folk etymologies. The best-known is the train story. In the old days, when the train from Busan to Jinju reached Gaeyang Station, the Jinju-bound cars and the Samcheonpo-bound cars were said to be uncoupled and sent off separately. If a passenger headed for Jinju dozed off or was too drunk to switch cars in time, he would be carried not to his intended Jinju but, of all places, to Samcheonpo. From this, "to slip off to Samcheonpo" came to mean "to stray from one's own path and end up somewhere unintended." Other tales are told too — of a peddler who took a wrong road, of a Jinhae sailor returning late from leave.