十年寒窗 vs. Lin-sanity (slang)

I’d like to put aside what I haven’t finished with my previous writing “All about eating” to talk about this Lin-sanity, which has been the hottest sports topic these days in Taiwan, after learning online that he did it again—another comeback victory 0.5 second before the end of the game, the sixth win in a row!

For a benchwarmer who turns to a sensation from a nobody in a few days, there’s no other slang fitter than an old saying十年寒窗無人問，一舉成名天下知(shi2 nian2 han2 chuang wu2 ren2 wen4, yi4 ju3 cheng2 ming2 tian xia4 zhi), which refers to what was like with the imperial civil service examination system, 科舉考試(ke ju3 kao3 shi4), when scholars had to be selected through the exam into the government, which was the loftiest  (practically the sole) goal for a 書生(shu sheng), scholar.

So scholars back then had to study very hard for very long, 十年, ten years refers to the span of time. 寒窗literally means cold windows. When you’re only a nobody, you get little attention and few people will visit you. 寒窗 is the expression for your place of loneliness and quietness. Once you passed the exam, however, you become a household name-一舉成名天下知

In traditional Chinese opera or literature, we have so many stories about the process how a書生has risen from poverty and obscurity into an icon when he passes the exam. He finally gets to marry the girl he loves of a prestigious family if you want it to be a comedy. The version for a tragedy would be that he abandons his mediocre wife to marry another woman, a political heavyweight’s daughter in most of cases.

Before Jeremy Lin turned into Lin-credible, he had to worry about getting unemployed and had to sleep on the couch. He hardly had the chance to show what he could, but passed along water or towels for his teammates. Had not Knicks been injury-depleted, would it be possible for us to watch this incredible show? Seeing how he had twisted the game in seconds (or 0.5 second in Toronto Raptors’ case) before the whistle blew, what else can we say except that God is at his side? His performance is really有如神助(you3 ru2 shen2 zhu4), helped by God.

For Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors, who had won the game most of the time until the final seconds, it’s just like what we say, 煮熟的鴨子飛了(zhu3 shou2 di ya zi3 fei le), the cooked duck flies away. Just when you think you can start eating the duck, it’s taken away right under your nose!

We certainly don’t hope this Lin-sanity to be a flash in the pan, 曇花一現(tan2 hwa yi2 xian4). 曇花, the night-blooming cereus, no matter you like the game or the legend.

十年寒窗無人問，一舉成名天下知=十年寒窗无人问，一举成名天下知

科舉考試=科举考试

書生=书生

煮熟的鴨子飛了=煮熟的鸭子飞了

曇花一現=昙花一现

All about eating (II) (slang)

秀色可餐(xiu4 se4 ke3 can)  It compares the beauty of a woman to food. Her beauty is such that you can eat it. 秀色means beauty; 餐to eat.

吃香(chi xiang) It means to be well-liked, popular, highly-valued, or much sought after. For example, you may say the NBA sensation Taiwanese- descent Jeremy Lin has been quite吃香on basketball court these days.

吃閉門羹(chi bi4 men2 geng) to be denied entrance; to be rejected. 閉門means closed door; 羹, thick soup. Take Jeremy Lin again for example. Before going to college, he mailed video of him playing basketball to all the universities of Ivy League as well as some others such as UCLA for admission. But only Harvard and Brown promised him a place on the school team. We can say Lin applied to those colleges but吃了閉門羹

吃啞巴虧 When a mute is taken advantage of or has incurred a false accusation, he can’t get even by telling. We may use吃啞巴虧to refer to such a situation when you can’t tell the truth or get even for some reason faced with a false accusation. 吃虧means to be at a disadvantage;啞巴, mute.

吃醋(chi cu4) : It means getting jealous while literally meaning “eating vinegar.” I’ve talked about the allusion in my previous writing “Seven things after you open the door (II).” in July, 2011. Sometimes we also use 吃味(chi wei4) (eating again!) to mean the same.

吃力(chi li4) If a job is very tough and strenuous and you’re having a hard time doing it, you can use the term to describe the job or the situation. 力means strength or force. To make it worse, you are straining to finish a tiring job but no one seems to be pleased or appreciate your hard work. You might scream: “This is really吃力不討好(chi li4 bu4 tao3 hao3)!”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

吃閉門羹=吃闭门羹

吃啞巴虧=吃哑巴亏

All about eating (I) (slang)

Some people say that Chinese culture is all about eating. Not only do Chinese say 民以食為天(min2 yi3 shi2 wei2 tian),which means for ordinary people, food is their “sky,” i.e. the most vital part of their life. There’re so many expressions that are related to eating:

糊口(hu2 kou3) : make a living; keep body and soul together, with 糊meaning to paste while 口meaning mouth.

飯碗(fan4 wan3): a job, bread and butter. Literally飯means rice,碗,bowl. So 飯碗 is the bowl you use to contain the rice you eat. In Taiwan, we often call a job at the bank a “golden” 飯碗(金飯碗 jin fan4 wan3) because it’s related to gold, money; a job for the government service or in the public school is called “iron” 飯碗(鐵飯碗 tye3 fan4 wan3) because it’s well protected and you don’t need to worry about being laid off (unless you commit a major crime.) It is unbreakable.

混飯吃(hun4 fan4 chi): similar to糊口, which means you get a job and just live hand to mouth. Literally it means to manage to get some rice to eat. 混means to fool around, idle around. For example, when someone makes a compliment and expresses his envy to a civil servant saying that his job is a “鐵飯碗,” the latter might respond, “只是混飯吃罷了”(zhi3 shi4 hun4 fan4 chi ba4 le) It’s just a job that keeps my body and soul together; no big deal but a job.

吃得開(chi de kai): It’s used to refer to the status that someone is doing very well, or playing an important part in his job or career. For example, 陳先生在金融界吃得很開, Mr. Chen is doing very well in the financial business.

吃豆腐(chi dou4 fu3): Literally it means “eating tofu,” which actually implies sexual harassment. It could be used when a man is physically harassing a woman, but vise versa. It could also mean verbal harassment. For example, Mr. Chen likes to 吃女人豆腐. Mr. Chen likes to harass women.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

民以食為天=民以食为天

飯碗=饭碗

鐵飯碗=铁饭碗

吃得開=吃得开

搶頭香 (Custom)

Before we start the topic, let’s watch a short film first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBYdvy6c718

What exactly are they doing?

It’s believed that he who gets to burn the first incense of the year in the temple, i.e. to put his incense stick into the incense burner first would be extremely blessed and lucky for the year. That’s why a lot of people will wait outside some prestigious temples for the gates to be open during the midnight of the Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Such an act is called搶頭香(qiang3 tou2 xiang), literally meaning competing to burn the first incense. The competition is such that you can see some funny scene as someone “cheating” like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f2pUUKhkJc&feature=related

It turns out that this term is not limited to temples, but has become a common usage to describe the act of getting to be the first to do something. For example, Taiwan’s newly elected legislators reported for duty on Feb, 1. According to the news report, a DDP legislator had arrived at the Legislative Yuan around 6:00 a.m. to “搶頭香” even though the procedure was scheduled to start at 8:00. Somehow another legislator entering from the side gate accidentally turned out the one who搶了頭香.

For the man who turned over the incense burner in the film, the physical pain might not as much as that when he saw the grandma putting her incense into the burner leisurely and “elegantly.”

搶頭香=抢头香

一無所有 (song)

During the Chinese New Year, I finished the book “The Sound of Resistance: from Bob Dylan to U2,” reviewing a convention of protest singers of the past century passed along from Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger to Bono.

As someone born in the 60s, growing in the 70s and 80s ‘s Taiwan, it’s almost impossible for me not to have heard of songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “Blowing in the Wind,” and “One.” Likewise it’s impossible for us not to have seen such a familiar scene of protest from the 70s, 80s in Taiwan.

In June of 1989, we shed tears in front of TV displaying what was happening in Tiananmen Square. We saw a man stood tall in front of a tank and later as a flat piece on the ground, which you thought could only be seen in cartoon. That year we heard the song一無所有(yi4 wu2 suo3 you3) "Nothing to My Name" by 崔健(cui jian4) as an anthem to student protestors in Tiananmen Square.

Cui is often labeled as “The Father of Chinese Rock.” His hoarse voice reminds me of Bruce Springsteen. When hundreds of thousands of people shouted and sang that they got “nothing to their name,” the song had its moment in the history.

Earlier this month, a Chinese woman had a clash with a Hong Kong resident, who tried to stop her kid from eating noodles on the subway train. The clash was such that the train had stopped for a while.

To this event a professor from Beijing University 孔慶東(Kong3 qing4 dong) remarked on a show that Hong Kong residents are “dogs,” and only with people of “lower-class” is law necessary. Calling someone a dog is very insulting in the Chinese language for it’s degrading someone as 畜生(chu4 sheng), a beast.

After that controversial remark, he criticized Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 14 this year as a “fake democracy.”

I don’t know why, but I just feel at this moment, some two decades away from the protest students singing the song “Nothing to My Name” in Tiananmen Square, when China has risen as an economic strength, this Cui Jian’s song still sounds great.

As the singer sings in the song, for a man who has “nothing to his name,” it’s next to impossible that any girl would go with him. No wonder the numbers of people in Hong Kong or in Taiwan who consider themselves 中國人(zhong guo2 ren2) are both falling abruptly.
 

      一無所有(yi4 wu2 suo3 you3) Nothing to My Name

我曾經問個不休　妳何時跟我走

(wo3 ceng2 jing wen4 ge bu4 xiu/ ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zou3)

I’ve kept asking when you will go with me.
可妳卻總是笑我　一無所有

(ke3 ni3 que4 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.
我要給妳我的追求　還有我的自由

(wo3 yao4 gei3 ni3 wo3 de zhui qiu3/ hei2 you3 wo3 de zi4 you2)
I wanna give you my quest and freedom.

可妳總是笑我　一無所有
(ke3 ni3 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.
喔　妳何時跟我走　喔　妳何時跟我走

(Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3/ Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3)

Oh, When will you go with me, go with me.

腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流

(jiao3 xia4 zhe4 di4 zhai4 zhou3/ shen bian na4 shui3 zhai4 liu2)

The land under my feet is moving. The water by my side is flowing.
可妳卻總是笑我　一無所有

(ke3 ni3 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)
You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.

為何妳總笑個沒夠　為何我總要追求

(wui4 he2 ni3 zhong xiao4 ge mei2 gou4/ wui4 he wo3 zhong3 yao4 zhui qiu2)

Why do you keep laughing? Why do I keep questing?
難道在妳面前我永遠　是一無所有

(nan2 dao4 zhai4 ni3 mian4 qian2 wo3 yong yuan3/ shi4 yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)
Do I always have nothing in front of you?
喔　妳何時跟我走　喔　妳何時跟我走

(Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3/ Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3)

Oh, . . When will you go with me, go with me.
(腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流　腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流)

告訴妳我等了很久　告訴妳我最後的要求

(gao4 su4 ni3 wo3 deng3 le hen3 jiu3/ gao4 su4 ni3 wo3 zhui4 hou4 de yao qiu2)

I’ve been waiting for long. I’ll tell you my final request.
我要抓起妳的雙手　妳這就跟我走

(wo3 yao4 zhua qu3 ni3 de shuang shou3/ ni3 zhe4 jiu4 gen wo3 zhou3)

I wanna hold your hands, asking you to come with me.
這時妳的手在顫抖　這時妳的淚在流

(zhe4 shi2 ni3 de shou43 zai4 zhan4 dou3/ zhe4 shi2 ni3 de lei4 zai4 liu2)

Your hands are shaking; your tears shedding.
莫非妳是正在告訴我　妳愛我一無所有

(mo4 fei ni3 shi zhong4 zai4 gao4 su4 wo3/ ni3 ai4 wo3 yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

Are you telling me you love me even though I have nothing?
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
(腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流　腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流)

喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy-ez-6GB_w&feature=related

一無所有=一无所有

孔慶東=孔庆东

中國人=中国人

我曾经问个不休　妳何时跟我走

可妳却总是笑我　一无所有

我要给妳我的追求　还有我的自由

可妳总是笑我　一无所有

喔　妳何时跟我走　喔　妳何时跟我走

脚下这地在走　身边那水在流
可妳却总是笑我　一无所有
为何妳总笑个没够　为何我总要追求
难道在妳面前我永远　是一无所有
喔　妳何时跟我走　喔　妳何时跟我走
(脚下这地在走　身边那水在流　脚下这地在走　身边那水在流)
告诉妳我等了很久　告诉妳我最后的要求
我要抓起妳的双手　妳这就跟我走
这时妳的手在颤抖　这时妳的泪在流
莫非妳是正在告诉我　妳爱我一无所有
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
(脚下这地在走　身边那水在流　脚下这地在走　身边那水在流)
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走

Why eat bullshit? (joke)

In my previous writing 字感(zi4 gan3), I talked about how Chinese characters can be put vertically or horizontally. As a result, misunderstanding arises.

For example, one day a foreigner came to a diner in Taiwan and got terribly confused. “Why eat 牛大便(niu2 da4 bian4), bull’s dropping?” asked him on reading the menu on the wall.

In Taiwan’s diners the main courses are often shown on color strips of paper on the wall. This one goes as:

牛 大 便

肉 滷 當

麵 麵

The foreigner just read the menu from left to right as reading English, when it is actually arranged downward. If you start from left, the menu goes as 牛肉麵(niu2 rou4 mian4)，beef noodles, 大滷麵(da4 lu3 mian4)，dalu noodles, and便當(bian4 dang), bento, or a boxed meal.

Another characteristic of the Chinese characters is that some characters consist of more than one unit, which is a character itself. Misunderstanding might happen with loose scribbles that do not arrange the units properly. For example, a first grader with the name 朱月坡(zhu yue4 puo) is often mistaken as 朱肚皮(zhu du4 pi2) since he puts the parts of his last word 坡 too separately with the left part 土(tu3) combined with the middle word 月, which turns to 肚. As a result, his name sounds like “pig’s belly.”

Tons of such examples can be given. 關金鵲(guan jin que4), a name after some bird, turns to be 關錯鳥(guan cuo4 niao3), literally meaning shutting in the wrong bird. It sounds funnier if you know that “bird” 鳥is also a euphemism for man’s genital.

Probably this is why we always have squares for the beginners to practice writing the characters. Take a look at those beginners’ writing without any lines or squares to confine the characters, you might be amused.

牛肉麵=牛肉面

大滷麵=大卤面

便當=便当

關金鵲=关金鹊

關錯鳥=关错鸟

祿山之爪 vs. 鹹豬手 (slang)

I read on the paper that a man on the bus had reached out his hand to a girl sexually harassing her. The girl yelled at him so that the bus driver drove the bus directly to a police station and had the man arrested. I applauded for the girl and the bus driver.

If such a thing happened one or two decades ago, I believe the reporter would describe the incident as “無聊男子亂伸祿山之爪(lu4 shan zhi zhua3.” But these days the reporter would more likely choose the term鹹豬手(xian2 zhu shou3), which is not so classical but a more modern usage.

To realize the term祿山之爪, you got to start from one of the four most famed beauties in the Chinese history, 楊貴妃(yang2 gui4 fei), which I had introduced in my previous writing “Angelina Jolie would be ugly.” It is said that Yang, though being the beloved consort of Emperor Xuangzong, had an affair with 安祿山(an lu4 shan), An Lushan, a general of Sogdian and Tujue origin who later rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. Once her breasts were bruised by An’s hands that she had to put on a piece of cloth to cover them, which is said to be the origin of 肚兜(du4 dou), bellyband, or ancient version of bra.  

Thus came the term祿山之爪. 爪usually refers to animal’s claws. Here it refers to a man’s hands that reach out to a woman’s breasts.

But these days the term has been replaced more and more often by鹹豬手, which literally means “salty pig’s hand.” The usage of “pig” is understandable since it’s always been a metaphor for lecherous perverts in the Chinese language if you have some knowledge about the classical novel 西遊記, Journey to the West, which I’ve talked a little about before.

As to the word salty, a theory is that it comes from Cantonese. I remember writing about calling a porn 鹹濕片(xian2 shi pian4) showing the implicative meaning of the word 鹹, salty. Some people say in Cantonese a pervert can be called鹹濕佬(xian2 shi lao3), which is probably why 祿山之爪is also called鹹豬手today.

A student of mine shouted and called for her boss at a Internet café, where she works during the days when a 鹹濕佬sexually harassed her for the second time the other day. They called the police and the pervert never dares to show up again. I applaud for her too.

鹹豬手=咸猪手

楊貴妃=杨贵妃