Amazing knowledge

Chapter 14 Word Magic House: Chinese can stump you
* What are the "seven emotions and six desires"?
Practicality: ★★★

Knowledge: ★★★★★

Interesting: ★★★★
There is a saying in Buddhism: "The four elements are all empty." It means to abandon all the seven emotions and six desires. We always talk about the seven emotions and six desires, but what are the so-called seven emotions and six desires?

The seven emotions and six desires actually refer to human emotions and desires. The so-called seven emotions are the seven emotions of a person, and the seven desires are the six desires. Next, let’s talk about what the seven emotions refer to.Usually we think that when we talk about "love", we should refer to feelings such as family affection, love and friendship, while the seven emotions in the seven emotions and six desires do not refer to this kind of emotion, but human emotions.The seven emotions refer to the seven emotions of happiness, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock.The six desires refer to appetite, lust, leadership, possession, activity, and knowledge.

Humans are advanced animals, and after such a long period of evolution, they became what they are now. Human emotions can be regarded as very rich.As for desires, everyone has them. As long as they live in this world, people will have all kinds of desires. This is human nature.The appetite in the six desires is somewhat different from the explanation of appetite that we usually talk about. The appetite in the six desires refers to the desire to survive, that is, people's desire to live hard.If people want to live better, they must eat delicious food, so we also call the desire for survival appetite.The desire for activity is the desire for expression, which mainly refers to people's speech, movement, and so on.From birth, people already have the desire to move.From babbling to gradually learning to walk, it is a manifestation of the desire to pursue activities.The desire to be a leader is actually a desire for performance, a manifestation of people's competitiveness. People hope to win the respect and obedience of others through their performance.

The final word: Among the seven emotions and six desires of human beings, there are healthy and unhealthy ones.Bad emotions will affect one's own health, and unhealthy desires will make people fall into pain.If you want to live a happy and healthy life, you must restrain your unhealthy desires and regulate your bad emotions.

*Which five blessings are there in "Five Blessings"?

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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★★
Every year during the Chinese New Year, couplets symbolizing auspiciousness and good luck are pasted on the doors of every household. On the couplets, you can often see the horizontal inscription "Five Blessings". What do the "Five Blessings" in "Five Blessings" refer to?

First of all, let's first understand the source of "Five Blessings" in Wufu Linmen. The word "Five Blessings" comes from "The Book of Books·Hong Fan". Nowadays, this word has become a household name. Everyone knows the "Five Blessings" when they come to the door, but how many people can know which five "Five Blessings" are?

The "Five Blessings" in the "Five Blessings" refer to: longevity, wealth, well-being, virtue, and a good death.The original sentence recorded in "Book of Books Hong Fan" is: one is longevity, the other is wealth, the third is Kangning, the fourth is cultivating virtue, and the fifth is testing life.

Among them, longevity means that a person has a long life span, does not die young, and has a long life.To be rich means to have a prestigious position and have a lot of money.Corning means people's physical health and peace of mind.Good virtue refers to a person's benevolent character, and his virtue is generous and peaceful.A good death means that people can know the date of their own death in advance, and when they are dying, they will not encounter any sudden disasters, have no diseases in their bodies, and have no troubles and regrets in their hearts, so they can leave this world peacefully.

Five blessings come to the door means that all these blessings come to the family, which can play a role in blessing the family. During the Spring Festival, post these blessing words on the door of the house, which means to seek auspiciousness.

The final word: Wufu Linmen is often used as a horizontal comment on Spring Festival couplets, mainly because when people write Spring Festival couplets, the upper and lower couplets often have the meaning related to "Five Blessings" in Wufu Linmen, so it is more appropriate to use "Wufu Linmen" as a horizontal comment .

*Why is "two hundred and five" a curse?
Practicality: ★★★

Knowledge: ★★★

Interesting: ★★★★
People often say "two hundred and five" when swearing. Many people know that this is a curse word, but do you know why they use "two hundred and five" when swearing?Why not use other numbers?

There are many different theories about the source of the "two hundred and five" curse.There is a folklore that a talented scholar had no ambitions when he was young, and he did not have a man or a woman. When he was old, he gradually began to be indifferent to fame and fortune. Unexpectedly, he got two sons when he was old.Xiucai looked back and thought about his past, so he named his two sons Chengshi and Baishi.As a result, one day the scholar wanted to go shopping, and asked his wife to urge his two sons to write at home, asking them to write 300 characters for success and 200 characters for failure.As a result, when the scholar came back, he asked his wife how his son's homework was doing. The wife replied: "It's not enough to succeed, but it's more than a failure. Both are two hundred and five."

In addition, some people say that "two hundred and five" comes from Pai Gow.In Pai Gow, the card type consisting of two cards "Second Board" and "Mo Wu" is called "Bao Ten".This card is the smallest in Pai Gow, and later people called this card type "two boards and five", using this word to describe that you can't do anything well, and you can't control anything.Over time, "two boards and five" was gradually called "two hundred and five" by people.

Whatever the exact origin of the word, it's not a good word, and people assume it's used to describe someone who doesn't accomplish anything.

In addition, when people do stupid things or describe people as lacking in mind, they often compare people to "two hundred and five".

The final word: "two hundred and five" has the meaning of insulting others, so don't use this word to describe people casually in your life!
*Why is there no "Sunday"?
Practicality: ★★★★
Knowledge: ★★★

Interesting: ★★★

It is normal to call Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but on the seventh day of the week, the "Seventh" that should have been called down in sequence was changed to "Sunday", and it was approved by the people of the whole country. recognition.Why was "Saturday" so forced to "seek power and usurp the throne" and take away the title it deserved?
The Sunday we usually talk about was actually invented by us Chinese. This is what the Chinese said when they translated the text.China originally did not have the term "week", but after introducing the term "week" from the West, our ancestors created the term "week".

According to our rules, isn't the seventh day of the week called "Sunday"!But Westerners disagree, because according to the order of the sun and the moon, Sunday should be the biggest day of the week. Although this day is at the end, it has the largest weight.If it is translated into "Seventh", it can only indicate that this is the last day of the week, but it cannot express that this date is the biggest day of the week.But after the weekend is over, it is Monday again, and we can't call this day zero, let alone Saturday.

Such a tangled day gave our ancestors a headache. After considering the order, we can’t care about the meaning, and we can’t care about the meaning and the name of Shun Liu, so our ancestors finally decided to call it "Sunday", which is the best of both worlds. up.

The names of the different seven days of the week first appeared in the mythology of ancient Rome. Later, the Germans gradually transformed the names of the seven days of the week in the ancient Roman mythology through their own language, and included the days from Tuesday to week in the mythology. The 7 gods of five became the gods of the Germans.

Later, these stories gradually spread from Germany to Britain, and finally evolved gradually, becoming what it is today.As early as the 17th century, the first letters of the seven days of the week did not need to be capitalized.

In ancient Roman mythology, Sunday means the symbol of the sun, and the Romans also used to call this day Sunday.What's interesting is that in a week, since there is the sun, there must be the moon, and the moon, as the wife of the sun, must follow the sun, so after sunday is moonday (monday).

The final word: Usually children will ask, why there are 7 days in a week, and Sunday is not called Saturday. If you don’t understand this little knowledge in the past, will you be speechless in the face of children’s questions?Now that you understand it, you won't be speechless.

* Does "Liu Huo in July" mean that the weather is very hot?

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Knowledge: ★★★★★

Interesting: ★★★★★

We often see the word "Liuhuo in July". Whether it is "July" or "Liuhuo", it looks quite hot. Does this word mean that the weather is very hot?

The word "Liuhuo in July" seems to be "steaming", and it can't help but make people think that this word should have a lot to do with the weather.But in fact, this word has nothing to do with the hot weather, even if it is eight poles, it can't hit it.When people see this word, they will have the idea of ​​describing the hot weather, which depends entirely on the literal meaning of the word.But in fact, the word means "Mars flows downward in July", which means that the weather is going to be cooler.

The word "Jiyue Liuhuo" comes from "The Book of Songs Bin Feng July". This poem originally reflected that the slaves in the Western Zhou Dynasty had to do hard work every day, but they could not live a life of food and clothing.This poem has a total of 88 sentences, which mentions the changes of the four seasons of the year, as well as the true portrayal of people's life at that time.At the beginning of this poem, the word "July Liuhuo" is written. The July here refers to the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which is equivalent to the eighth and ninth months of our current lunar calendar.It is already autumn in the eighth and ninth lunar months, so the weather will naturally not be hot, and the meaning of burning fire in July has nothing to do with the hot weather.

In the past, some people often used "July fire" to describe the hot weather. Now that I know what this word means, I believe it will not be used indiscriminately in the future.The real meaning of some words is not the literal meaning, and many words have profound meanings, so you must understand the meaning before using the words!
The final word: Liuhuo in July means that the hot weather has subsided and the weather is gradually getting cooler.But now many people are misusing it.For many words, you can't just look at the literal meaning. When you use it, you must figure out its true meaning.

*Why is paying the bill called "paying the bill"?
Practicality: ★★★★
Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★

When we eat in a restaurant, we just need to wave our hand and say "pay the bill", and the waiter will come to help us check out. "pay the bill" actually means paying the bill, but why is this?

The words pay bill and pay the bill seem to be very different, why do they have the same effect? "Pay the bill" is actually a Cantonese sentence, but the standard Cantonese says "pay the bill", but why did "buy" eventually evolve into "buy"?This is because the pronunciation of the words "buy" and "buy" in Cantonese are very similar. Over time, people call and call and call to pay.Don't think that "paying the bill" and "paying the bill" mean the same thing. In fact, the meanings of the two are quite different.In Cantonese, "buried" has many different meanings, one of which is the meaning of settlement. For example, people who do business have to settle at the end of each year. In Cantonese, the settlement at the end of the year is called "buried year", so When you go out to eat and pay the bill, it is also called "paying the bill".

The term "pay the bill" first appeared in Guangzhou. At that time, when people did business, they paid locally, but when they picked up the goods, they had to go to other places.In order to be able to prove that I have already paid, I often have to take a bill of lading as proof when picking up the goods, proving that the goods have been "bought".It can be seen that the two different names are actually different in essence, but modern people generally think that paying the bill means paying the bill.

The reason for paying the bill is not only because of the similar pronunciation, but also because people do not understand the culture and folk customs of Guangzhou.Many modern Guangzhou people do not understand the two versions of this word, so it is not uncommon for them to mistakenly think that "pay the bill" means "pay the bill".

The final word: There are different languages ​​in the north and the south, and they have different understandings of the meaning of words, and the pronunciation between the two is very similar, so gradually "paying the bill" has become the meaning of paying the bill.

*Is there any relationship between "showing the horse's feet" and Queen Ma?
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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★★★

Zhu Yuanzhang's empress, Ma Dajiao, is probably known to many people, and even more people know the term "showing the horse's feet".It is said that there is an inextricable connection between the two. I don't know if this is true or not.

Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang can be described as self-made. He once herded cattle and sheep for a rich man, and also worked as a monk in a temple.Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the uprising team.Zhu Yuanzhang performed bravely in the team, was appreciated by the chief general Guo Zixing, and married the local talented girl Ma Xiuying as his wife.

With Ma Xiuying as a good helper, Zhu Yuanzhang put all his body and mind on the front line. He led his men to win continuously, and finally sat on the throne of the emperor, and Ma Xiuying also became the famous Queen Ma in history.

Although Queen Ma is dignified enough, she has a pair of big feet.At that time, the three-inch golden lotus was regarded as the beauty, and women had to bind their feet from an early age, but Queen Ma did not bind their feet, which also became a rumor for others.In order to be able to hide her big feet, Empress Ma often hides her feet from the bottom of her skirt as much as possible.But she just came here for whatever she was afraid of. When Empress Ma was out on a trip, a gust of wind blew by and suddenly lifted the curtain of the sedan chair that Empress Ma was riding on, and her big feet happened to be exposed.Later, this incident caused a lot of trouble in the city, and the word "showing one's feet" spread like this.

Of course, this is just a legend. Some people think that showing the horse's feet has nothing to do with Empress Ma. They think that Mr. Lu Xun once said "show the horse's feet under the unicorn's skin", and this sentence is related to a celebration program in the Tang Dynasty.According to legend, at that time, someone put the painted unicorn skin on the body of a donkey (horse), making it pretend to be a strange beast, for the common people to look up to.However, once when wrapping the unicorn skin, I accidentally didn't wrap the donkey (horse)'s feet tightly, and finally exposed them, revealing the truth of the matter.

The final word: There have always been different opinions on the term "showing one's feet", and we will not delve into its real origin here, as long as we really understand what it means to show one's feet.

*How did "eating tofu" come about?

Practicality: ★★★

Knowledge: ★★★

Interesting: ★★★★★

When it comes to "eating tofu", everyone knows that not only may it be eating the white and tender tofu, but it may also be taking advantage of girls' homes. Although everyone knows this saying, who knows its origin?

It is said that in ancient times, there was a couple who ran a tofu shop. Every day the husband would get up at night to grind tofu, and the wife would sell the tofu made by the husband during the day.Because the wife often eats tofu, her skin is very fair and delicate, and the wife is already pretty, so someone named the proprietress "Tofu Xishi".

In order to attract more business, Tofu Xi Shi often uses coquettish methods to attract customers.Many men come to buy tofu in order to see the charming appearance of tofu xishi. In fact, these men just want to be able to flirt with tofu xishi in the tofu shop. Sometimes some male customers will even touch the tofu xishi.What the male customers did made their wives jealous, but in ancient times, men had a high family status, and women had almost no family status, so as wives, they could not openly oppose their husbands, and could only ask politely: "Did you go to eat tofu again today?" ?” It means that the husband is going to the tofu shop to take advantage of the tofu Xi Shi again today.

In this way, over time, the word "eating tofu" has become synonymous with men's frivolous women, and today people often refer to "indecent" as "eating tofu".

The final word: Although "eating tofu" means "indecent", but I have to admit that tofu is a very nutritious dish. Tofu is rich in vitamins and proteins. Eating tofu can also prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

* Why is high talent "Eight Dou"?
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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★

When we praise people for their talents, we have a ready-made idiom "talented eight times", but why can't we "talented ten times high"?Isn't this more than "Ba Dou", why is it just "Ba Dou"?

The term "Cai Gao Ba Dou" appeared in "Shi Chang Tan: The Talents of Ba Dou". The original text reads like this: There is only one stone in the world.There is an allusion to the origin of this idiom. During the Southern Dynasties, there was a landscape poet named Xie Lingyun.This Xie Lingyun is very talented, and even created a school of landscape poetry in the history of literature.The poems he wrote are very artistic, and the form of the poems is also very beautiful. Because of this, his poems were loved by the literati at that time.As long as his poems and essays flow out, it will definitely attract people to follow suit, and his poems and essays were also widely circulated at that time.

Xie Lingyun's talent was appreciated by Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty, and Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty specially summoned Xie Lingyun to the capital and appointed him an official.Xie Lingyun has two outstanding talents: one is poetry and the other is calligraphy.Therefore, when Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty entertained ministers, Xie Lingyun would often write and compose at the banquet.Xie Lingyun was an arrogant person, and now that he was appreciated by Emperor Wen of Song, he became even more elated.

Once, Xie Lingyun boasted while drinking: "Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, if there is one stone of literary talent in the world, then Cao Zhi himself has eight of them, and I have one of them, and the remaining one is the world." People share it.” According to Xie Lingyun, if there is only one stone in the world of knowledge, then Cao Zhi himself has eight Dou, which means that he has the most, so no matter how talented he is, he will not exceed Ba Dou.Later generations describe people's talents as high, and they can only describe them as eight buckets.

Therefore, the one with the highest talent is "Ba Dou".

The final word: One stone is a unit of capacity used by ancient people, and one stone is equal to ten buckets. "Talented and talented" is the highest state to describe talent.

*What kind of pool is "Thunder Pool"?
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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★

Every time it is said that "you can't go beyond the thunder pool", everyone knows what it means in your heart like Mingjing.

Leichi is really not a pond. It is actually a place name in ancient my country, located in the south of Wangjiang County, Anhui Province, China.Regarding the origin of Lei Chi, it is recorded in relevant books as follows:
Leichi is located in Leichi Township, Wangjiang County, on the north bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in my country. The pond is formed by the accumulation of thunderwater.The water in Leichi originates from Huangmei County, Hubei Province, flows into the lake after passing through Susong, passes through Wangjiang County after connecting the lakes, and accumulates in the pond.Because the water source route of Leichi passed through the main shipping routes at that time, and the geographical terrain it passed through was relatively dangerous, it was a battleground for military strategists at that time, so it was named Leichi.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty in 327 AD, Wen Qiao, the governor of Jiangzhou at that time, learned that the war was about to break out, so he asked Yu Liang to protect the capital.Yu Liang underestimated the strength of Su Jun, his opponent at the time, and worried that Tao Kan, who was holding a heavy army at the time, would not agree to protect the capital, so he wrote a letter to advise: Su Jun is not strong enough, so he can't make a big deal, Tao Kan holds a heavy army That's the most worrying thing, so you have to stay where you are and don't overdo it.The final outcome is that Yu Liang was defeated and finally took refuge in Wen Qiao, and at the same time invited Tao Kan as the leader.Then a war broke out, Su Jun was killed in the war, and Kyoto was protected.Although this war was gradually forgotten by later generations, the phrase "don't cross the threshold" in the war has been used to this day.

The final word: Leichi is really not a pond, it is just a place name in ancient China, and it was the boundary between the two armies at that time.

* Why is dismissal called "fired squid"?
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Knowledge: ★★★

Interesting: ★★★★★

Now when we are at work, if we are fired by the leader, it will be called "fired", and some people who resign voluntarily will also say that they fired the boss.Why is dismissal called "fired squid"?What does this have to do with squid?

In the early days, people had to bring their own luggage when they went out to work, which is the so-called bedding.But if you get fired by your boss and lose your job, you have to pack your bags and go home or find a new job.If it is a manual worker, it is quite a tragic thing to pack up and leave, and they are still relatively taboo about the words "dismissal" and "pack up".These words are like a reminder to them, so they will subconsciously avoid them when they say these words.

Later, I don’t know when it started. People discovered that when the squid was fried, the squid slices were originally flat pieces, but after heating, the squid slices would slowly roll up. This process is the same as rolling bedding. The way the squid is rolled up is also very similar to the way it is rolled up.From this, people began to think, does it sound more pleasing to use fried squid instead of bedroll?As a result, people gradually called dismissal and dismissal as firing.

Nowadays, if a boss fires or fires an employee, he will say to the employee: "You are fired." It is more euphemistic and easier to accept.

The final word: The reason why expulsion is called "fired squid" is because fired squid is very similar to rolling bedding. In order to avoid rolling bedding, people use "fired squid" to describe being fired.

*What is the relationship between "three long and two short" and the coffin?
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Interesting: ★★★★★

Every time "three longs and two shorts" appears, it refers to something like an unexpected encounter. This word often indicates bad luck, and it has something to do with the coffin.What is the relationship between them?

The term "three long and two short" has already existed in ancient my country. If a person died at that time, he would not be sent to the crematorium to be cremated like today, but would be buried in a coffin, and the shape of the coffin is exactly in line with this " Three long and two short" have a very direct relationship.

When the dead are put into the coffin and the coffin is not covered, the entire coffin consists of a bottom and four sides.What's interesting is that in this part of the coffin, the planks on two sides are very short, while the planks on the other three sides are very long. This is the origin of "three long and two short".

In ancient times, people were put into coffins after they died, and three longs and two shorts were exactly the shape of the coffin, so people would think that three longs and two shorts were very unlucky. The ancients also used three longs and two shorts to replace death.

In addition, some people think that the origin of the three long and two short is related to incense candles.Under normal circumstances, after burning three incense sticks and lighting two candles, it means that a person is dead.In any case, the meanings of three long and two short are related to death, which is indeed very unlucky.

The final word: Nowadays, when people use three long and two short, it has a new meaning.Three long and two short also refers to sudden disasters or accidents, especially death.

*Does "finale" mean the last one?

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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★★★

When we watch a show, we often use the word "finale". Many people think that the finale show must be the last show in a show. Is this really the case? Does "finale" really mean the last one?

The origin of the word "finale" mainly comes from excerpts in my country. The finale does not mean the last appearance, but the penultimate one in a show.The last repertoire of an excerpt is called the big axis, because it took five or six hours to perform an excerpt at that time, so the last scene of an excerpt is generally arranged with some very interesting jokes, or some highly technical The small-scale martial arts scene made the audience feel that it doesn't matter whether they watch it or not, and the scene gradually ended like this.The reason why viewers wait so long to finish the show is because they want to see the finale.At that time, in order to retain the audience, the people in the theater arranged the performances of some top actors in the troupe as the finale, so the audience would stay for several hours and wait for the good show.

The finale is an opera term. Generally, there are five operas in one Beijing opera. The second-to-last scene is called the "finale", and the last scene is called the "big axis".The grand finale is the highlight of a show, but it is not the last, so don't get it wrong.

The final word: The finale is not the last of a show, but the penultimate one, which is often used these days as a metaphor for the most notable and last event.

*Why is death also called "passing away" and "emergence"?
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Knowledge: ★★★★
Interesting: ★★★★★

There are many different names for the death of a person. The death of an emperor is called "Jiabeng", the death of a monk is called "Paradise", and the death of a Taoist priest is called "Yuhua". Why are there so many sayings about the death of a person?
The monks believe that the "round" in "Yuan Ji" means "complete merit and virtue", while "Ji" means "clean and peaceful".Of course, not all monks can use the term of death to describe their death, which refers to a person who can enter Nirvana after death.Such a person must have a good practice in life, and the common name of Mahaparinirvana means to achieve the right result and attain the Tao.Passing away is a compliment to those monks who have practiced well, not all people can use this word after death.

In ancient times, after a Taoist priest died, if he cultivated to the extreme, he was called "emergence".Eternal transformation means to escape from the cycle of life and death, birth, old age, sickness and death, and to become a celestial being. The word "Yuhua" comes from the famous writer Su Shi of the Song Dynasty in his "Ode to the Red Cliff". In the article, the word "Yuhua" is mentioned in this way: "Piao Piao seems to be independent from the world, and he becomes immortal after becoming a fairy." Lao Tzu, a famous educator in my country, believes that , People are divided into old and young, just like the four seasons in nature, and just like insects gradually transforming into feathered butterflies, and people who practice cultivation will also transform into immortals after death.

The final word: "Nirience" and "Yuhua" can not be used casually in death. Even if a monk or a Taoist priest dies, these two words cannot be used casually. Only those who have practiced can use them after death. these two words.

(End of this chapter)