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Antworten zum Universum

March 4th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

Last Day Laughter

Posted in: Cultural Nonsense, Lighter Stuff

Today’s the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. My dad shared with me a few things that… I can’t help but laugh. Though I doubt that you’d understand. But since it’s the last day of Chinese New Year, I thought I’d honor my own heritage.

The fun thing goes as this-

(Read all the sentences from top to bottom, from right to left)
A scholar in the north was visited by an eunuch. The eunuch asks :
Duilian 1

The Scholar replies:

Duilian 2

Okay okay.. asides from the literary beauty of the statements (trust me, if you are literate in Chinese, you’d see the beauty of it instantly), and the nasty subtext in it, it was a extremely witty hoot! Of course, I know a couple of guys who speak and reply in this nasty, witty manner (Cheng Wei, you should know yourself, LOL). Just couldn’t help but to laugh at this.

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11
  • 1

    Here’s a rudimentary translation (that doesn’t really capture the full beauty and meaning):

    The eunuch asks:
    Little (Young) scholar, wearing winter clothes, carrying a summer fan… have you read the Spring-Autumn Annals?

    The scholar replies:
    Old Eunuch, born in the south, living in the north, do you still have your thing*?

    *Thing implying the testicles, of which the eunuch lacks… and Thing in Chinese is written as East-West (Dong Xi)

    Chewxy on March 4th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
  • 2

    I tak faham langsung. At times like this, I wish I had learnt how to read/write in Chinese.

    The Princess on March 4th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
  • 3

    Ohh i think i get it.

    The eunuch asks his question based on the four seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Then the scholar’s retort is based on the four directions - North, South, East, West - and coincidentally the pronunciation/writing of “East-West” is the same as “thing”?

    I guess i’d appreciate it more if i were fluent in Chinese. All the same, it’s pretty witty! :D

    ~hashie

    hashie on March 4th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
  • 4

    [...] Original post by Chewxy and powered by Img Fly [...]

    Day Spa » Last Day Laughter on March 4th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
  • 5

    Can’t read Mandarin anymore but i get the gist of it.

    Aoshi_88 on March 4th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
  • 6

    Princess: See? Don’t be so banana.

    Hashie: It’s more than that. It’s the word-to-word beauty.

    Here’s a lengthier explanation:

    • The first three characters on each poem addresses the person- Young Scholar; Old Eunuch. Young is opposed to old, and Scholar is opposed to Eunuch.
    • The following 2 sets of three characters on each poem describes the person, but are antagonistic at each other - “Wearing winter clothes, carrying a summer fan”; “Born in the south, living in the north.”
    • The last line is an insult to one another - the Eunuch asks if the Scholar had read the Spring-and-Autumn Annals (A book on morality, inter alia); while the Scholar asks if the Eunuch still has his testicles.
    • The 2 characters for the Spring-and-Autumn Annals are the 3rd and 4th characters respectively, in the last line in the Eunuch’s question. The 2 characters for the Thing (aka the testicles) are also the 3rd and 4th characters in the last line of the Scholar’s reply.
    • Both the characters for the Spring-and-Autumn Annals when separate, mean spring and autumn; both the characters for “thing” when separate, mean east and west. But when each set of 2 characters are brought together, it means different things - The Annals and the Thing, respectively.
    • Along the way, each author includes four of the whole set - Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn; and North, South, East, West.
    • The best part is that both poems has the same amount of characters - 16 in each poem.

    There are other intricacies of course, like a scholar carrying a summer fan. In ancient China, scholars often carry a feathered fan, or also known as a summer fan. Or why the eunuch resides in the North - the Emperor’s palace is in the North.

    Chewxy on March 5th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
  • 7

    Humans and their petty games. The eunuch is in the boiling pit BTW. He has another four hundred years before he can move on to the spiked boxes.

    Wished Iran would start launching nukes… that’d really spice up business in here.

    Some Supernatural Entity Who Wants To Be Known As Death on March 5th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
  • 8

    yeah thats pretty cool and witty eh =)

    abel on March 5th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
  • 9

    Hmm…. did I just type the lengthy explanation for no reason?

    All pictures are to be read from top to bottom, from right to left

    Chewxy on March 5th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
  • 10

    Eunuchs are dudes with their dongs chopped off and removed since they’re employed as a harem attendant or as a functionary in certain Asian courts.

    The info you gave isn’t so complete.

    Hangmen on March 6th, 2007 at 1:56 am
  • 11

    Um…. right. I don’t think my readers want to know the exact details. Anyways, eunuchs in ancient china were eunuchs because the Emperor had many wives, concubines and consorts

    Chewxy on March 6th, 2007 at 10:11 am

 

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