Obsessive with names and words (II) (homophone)

Besides hustling around the kitchen, traditionally the Chinese people would be busy attaching 春聯(chun lian2) around their houses in the end of every year. 春聯 is red paper with lucky words written by brush pen on them. On the gate it’s usually a rhymed line made up of two sentences, each with 7 words, which are stuck down on the two sides of the door. Above the door is a short phrase of 4 words attached across. The three make a whole set.

And on the windows we attach some lucky words such as 春(chun), spring、福(fu2) blessing、壽(shou4), longevity . . . etc. 春 and福 sometimes are put upside down because in Chinese the word upside down 倒(dao4 or dao3) sounds the same as 到(dao4), which means arrive. As a result, the upside down 春 means 春到(chun dao4), the spring has come. On the rice jar, you might see the word 滿(man3), which means full. It was the general wish for people at the age of poverty not to starve. And even at the pigpen or barn where people keep their livestock, you will see 六畜興旺(liu4 chu4 xing wang4), fast breed for the livestock.

You see my point now? Somehow we are like wizards, who keep casting spells around ourselves in the hope that life will go the way we wish because we’ve put our wishes in words.

According to the statistics, last year in Taiwan, over 12 thousand people changed their names. Most of them were willing to take the inconveniences and did so in the hope to change their luck 改運(gqi3 yun4) because as I’m telling you, we are obsessive with names and think we are what we are called.

Many parents go to fortune tellers to name their babies because you can’t be too careful about the name of your newborn baby. Not only does it carry the good wishes from the parents, but it has a fatal influence on his/her life, from 五行(yu3 xing2) (the five elements) to the number of strokes, which involve a lot of mysteries that it takes an expert to do it. That’s why sometimes we’ll meet people with names that we don’t know how to pronounce or what they mean. Eight out of ten they’re from some fortune-teller’s strange dictionary.

With the entrance exam for colleges around the corner, one of my colleagues told me he had to get a train ticket from 追分(zhui fen)to 成功(cheng2 gong) for her daughter as a gift to her friend, who’s an examinee. Another typical example. 追分and 成功 are names of two places as well as train stations. Combined together it means to pursue score and succeed. Thus the ticket becomes a lucky symbol for examinees of any exams. Some people also use it in pursuit of marriage because 分(fen) also sounds like 婚(hun), meaning marriage as in 婚姻(hun yin)

It could be dated back to year 2000, when a train ticket of 永保安康(yong3 bao3 an kang) showed up in an automobile commercial. Combine the names of the two places, 永康(yong3 kang) and 保安(bao3 an), and you get the term 永保安康, which means safe and health forever. Some smart people then started to notice追分成功, which was a sensational craze. It is said back then in one month, about 3 million of追分成功 tickets were sold! (I'm not sure if the number is exaggerated. But for your information, the population of Taiwan is around 23 million.)

I’d better stop here for I have so much to do. I have to think about what pseudonym I should take to get me famed and rich. Also, I’d better get a good 春聯 for my computer. Perhaps a 永保安康 ticket too!

春聯=春联 (Simplified)

壽=寿

滿=满

六畜興旺=六畜兴旺

改運=改运

五行: the five elements, including gold, wood, water, fire and earth

Obsessive with names and words (I) (homophone)

Sometimes I feel we Chinese are kind of obsessive with names and words. For example, do Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving just because it sounds like something auspicious? Do you get some train ticket not because you need to go somewhere, but because the names of the places look lucky?

With the Chinese New Year approaching, I cannot help but think of the cuisines we’re sure to have on the New Year’s Eve. (除夕) (chu2 xi4) Every family has their own special recipes but there’re some dishes you’re sure to see on every Chinese family’s table. Firstly, you’ll see a dish of fish 魚(yu2), which sounds the same as 餘, meaning surplus. We won’t finish it because it’s a symbol of the wish that we’ll have surplus for the coming year. 年年有餘 (nian2 nian2 yiu3 yu2)

Another ingredient we like to use in the cuisine is 髮菜(fa3 cai4) , hair moss or hair weed that is used as a vegetable in Chinese cuisine, for its pronunciation is similar to that of 發財 (fa cai2), to get rich. And for the rice cake used in the worship to the ancestors, 年糕(nian2 gao) , it’s a symbol of ranking higher each year. 年年高昇(or 升) (nian2 nian2 gao sheng) And the fermented rice cake 發糕 (fa gao) is especially liked because fermented 發酵(fa xiao4) has the word we love--發(fa), to prosper.

And for the vegetable leek 韭菜(jiu3 cei4), it’s the sound , the same as 久 “long;” for the fruit tangerine, 橘(ju2), it’s the similar sound with that of 吉(ji2), lucky, auspicious.

For Taiwanese, chicken is a symbol of starting a happy family because in Taiwanese chicken is pronounced like the word 家(jia) , which means family in the term of成家(cheng2 jai)  In Taiwanese, the radish 蘿蔔(luo2 bo) is pronounced like 采頭(cai3 tou2), which means lucky signs; whereas the pineapple 鳳梨(fen4 li2) is like 旺來 (wang4 lai2), the impending prosper. That’s why you always see them in the opening of a store or in the worship to the gods. 拜拜(bai4 bai4)

Speaking of拜拜, there’s a cracker with the name 旺旺仙貝(wang4 wang4 xian bei4) in Taiwan. They have a slogan in their commercial that goes as 拜拜選旺旺, ㄧ定旺(bai4 bai4 xian2 wang4 wang4, yi2 ding4 wang4), if you use the cracker in the worship to the gods, you’re sure to get prosperous. And when playing ma-jung 麻將, we always kid about not to drink the sports drink 舒跑(shu pao3) because it sounds like to run away after you lose. 輸(shu) means to lose.

I got a tip for those who want to sell anything to the Chinese people—just give it a name with the pronunciation of 發，旺，or 吉. It won’t go wrong.  But you’re wrong if you think our obsessions with words or names only go as far as what we eat, you’re very wrong. Tomorrow I’ll talk more about this.

By the way, call me if you happen to know anything with the name of “youth” or “beauty.” I sure can use one.

餘=余 (Simplified)

年年有餘=年年有余

髮菜=发菜

發財=发财

發糕=发糕

發酵=发酵

蘿蔔=萝卜

采頭=采头

鳳梨=菠萝

旺來=旺来

選=选

麻將=麻将

輸=输

What I won’t say in class (Homophone)

Surrounded by those horny teenagers, I have to be very cautious with what I say in class. As I told you, there’re so many homophones in Chinese and you don’t want to make yourself a pervert by using some of them without caution.

For example, when speaking of self-defense, instead of自衛 ( z4 wei4), I’ll say 自我防衛, because the former sounds exactly the same with自慰 ( z4 wei4), meaning masturbating. Another one is 受驚 (sh4 jing), getting startled, which is a homophone of受精 (sh4 jing), impregnation as well as授精 (sh4 jing), insemination. I might use受到驚嚇 instead.

In China, when asking people about their occupation, they might say, “您幹哪一行?” (What do you do?) They use 幹活 (gan4 huo2) as we use 工作 (gong zuo4), to work. 幹的好 (gan2 d hao3) means “good job.” But in class I will try to avoid the word 幹, because it means “fuck” in Taiwanese. You’ll have a classroom full of roars of laughter and turmoil if you keep using these terms.

As a result, I’ll never use the term能幹 (neng2 gan4) to compliment a capable student. If you know what能means, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

自衛 ( z4 wei4): self-defense 

自卫 (Simplified)

自慰 ( z4 wei4): masturbate

受驚 (sh4 jing): startled

受惊 (Simplified)

受精 (sh4 jing): impregnation

授精 (sh4 jing): insemination.

幹活 (gan4 huo2): work

干活 (Simplified)

幹的好 (gan2 d hao3): good job

干的好 (Simplified)

能幹 (neng2 gan4): capable

能干 (Simplified)

能 (neng2): able; capable