“胡” 說 & 黑馬 (chop suey)

As U.S. President Obama was busy welcoming Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), I read an editorial where the writer mentions he wonders if Obama still remembers what it was like in COP15, 2009, or how China is dealing with the appreciation of Renminbi, let alone the recent North Korea issue.

Though not necessarily my point of view, the term 胡說(hu2 shuo) flashed into my mind as I was reading it. It literally means “Hu says,” or “according to Hu,” but it’s mostly used to mean talking nonsense. Or sometimes we make it longer as 胡說八道(hu2 shuo ba dao4). Since Chinese President happens to have the family name “胡,” what he says would be “胡說”  Furthermore, another term胡搞 (hu2 gao3) means messing things up. 胡作非為(hu2 zuo4 fei wei2) refers to engagement to lawless activities.

My guess about these negative ”胡 terms” is that胡 was used to called the barbarian tribes from the west in ancient China. What they said or did would be regarded as nonsense or misbehavior by the civilized Han people, (漢人 han4 ren2).

The only positive ”胡 terms” I can think of right now is 胡牌(hu2 pei2), a term used in 麻將*(ma2 giang4) when someone has completed his whole set of tiles, i.e. he wins the game of this round.

What about President Obama? His name is translated as 歐巴馬(ou ba ma3) in Taiwan. The last word 馬(ma3) happens to be the last name of our president 馬英九(ma3 ying giu3), which means “horse” in Chinese.

There are no doubt abundant “horse terms” in Chinese. 馬到成功(ma3 dao4 cheng2 gong) is a lucky one because it means to win or succeed at war as soon as the fighting horses arrive. But if things don’t go your way, you might 馬前失蹄 (ma3 qian2 sh ti2), (or 馬失前蹄(ma sh qian2 ti2)) meaning to fail. If an unknown athlete wins a gold medal in Olympic Games beyond people’s expectation, we will call him a “dark horse.” 黑馬(hei ma3), which might originate from English. I think we might as well call Obama a黑馬 when he won the 2008 election as the first black president of the U.S. with 馬 in his name, though it was not so much of a surprise.

In 2008 when president Ma was campaigning for the presidential election, his slogan was 馬上好(ma3 shang4 hao3), which was a good example of a pun. 馬上 means soon while好 means good. It could also be divided as 馬, 馬英九; 上 as in 上任(shang4 ren4), to take up an office, 好, good. The three words carry the meaning that when Ma get elected, everything will turn good in no time.

It’s too early to tell what the meeting will lead to. A胡說 or a 黑馬? Or something 馬馬胡胡(馬馬虎虎) ? –(Please check out my previous writing “Nobody birds me” if you don’t understand the meaning of the term .)

胡說八道=胡说八道 (simplified)

胡作非為=胡作非为

歐巴馬=欧巴马

馬到成功=马到成功

馬前失蹄=马前失蹄

黑馬=黑马

Mahjong (Chinese: 麻將; pinyin: má jiàng) is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players. Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy and calculation and involves a certain degree of chance. In Asia, mahjong is also popularly played as a gambling game (though it may just as easily be played recreationally).   –Adapted from Wikipedia