Ok so basically in your throat there are two pipes, the esophagus and the trachea. The esophagus is where food you swallow goes down into your stomach, and the trachea is connected to your lungs and it's the part of your throat where air comes in and out, if you breathe through your mouth. Swallowing it through the wrong pipe just means that the food or liquid went down your trachea instead of your esophagus.
