The most interesting folklore

Chapter 27 The most interesting folk proverbs (1)
1. Why do you say "There are no flowers and animals on the house. Don't try to climb that tall gate"

Flower-arranging beasts are decorations located at both ends of the roof, which is a symbol of social status. Only the roofs of rich and educated people are decorated with such decorations, and ordinary people's houses are not.There are two types of flower arrangement beasts: "open mouth beast" and "shut mouth beast". "Open Mouth Beast" means that the family has fame, while those without fame can only use "Shut Mouth Beast" no matter how rich the family is.

High gate towers are also a symbol of social status. Only rich and noble families can live in houses with high gate towers and wide courtyard walls. It is impossible for ordinary people to live in houses with high gate towers.

"There are no flowers and animals on the house, so don't try to climb the tall gate" means that in marriage, people should marry rich and noble families, and ordinary people should marry ordinary people.

3. What does "the right family" originally refer to

We often use "good family right" to mean that men and women marry with equal conditions.But did you know that this word does not mean "equivalent" or "equivalent" as we take for granted in terms of "gateway".Because "mendang" and "hudui" were originally two words, and they were both important components of ancient gate buildings.

"Mendang" originally refers to the flat stone drums carved with patterns on the left and right sides of the gate. If the stone drums are engraved with flower patterns, it means that the family is a business family; , it shows that this is the mansion of officials and scholars.

"Hu pair" refers to the cylindrical wood carvings or carved bricks on the top of the lintel or on both sides of the lintel—it is named because it is always on the door and always has an even number.

Generally speaking, in the principle of Chinese architecture, there must be a pair of households in a well-connected house, so they are often combined and called the door decoration outside the gate.In ancient times, the size, quantity, and carved patterns of doors and households were directly related to the family and wealth of the owner, and they were a symbol of status.

So, slowly, this idiom was used as a synonym for family conditions, and it was specially used in the field of marriage between men and women.

3. Does Bazi without a stroke refer to calligraphy?

"八字不一笑" originally meant no way, but now it has evolved into no way, no clue, no clue, there is an allusion to the origin of not touching it.Zhu Xi, a Neo Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, became a Jinshi at the age of 18, and served successively as editor and editor of the Privy Council.In terms of philosophy, he developed the theories of Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, and became a master of Neo Confucianism.In his article "Book with Liu Zicheng", he said a few words: "The sages have already opened the eight characters, and people don't understand it, but they go out." The door was already open, but people ignored it, instead of going in, they walked out.Although the theme of this sentence is to let people learn the way of sages and sages, it reveals Zhu Xi's regret, regret and helplessness for these people who don't recognize their families.However, he would never have thought that this sentence was actually the source of the saying "the eight characters are not left behind".The problem lies in his "eight" character,
The character "eight" looks like two doors, and Zhu Xi's use of eight to describe the door is undoubtedly very vivid here.If there is no sign in the horoscope, it means there is no door. ．
4. What is the origin of "painting ladles according to gourds"

The saying "painting a ladle according to the gourd" comes from a small allusion in "History of the Song Dynasty".During the Northern Song Dynasty, a Hanlin scholar named Tao Gu wanted to be an official in another place, so he asked someone to recommend him in front of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.Unexpectedly, when Zhao Kuangdun heard that it was Tao Gu, he said with a smile: "When this old man drafts documents, he always copies the old ones of his predecessors, but edits them in a new way." So Tao Gu was not appointed.These words later reached Tao Gu's ears, and he couldn't help being disappointed, he thought that the emperor valued him very much, and in order to repay the kindness of his knowledge, he worked conscientiously and worked hard.Unexpectedly, I worked so hard to draft a statement, and worked hard to make a boring job impressive, but I ended up like this.He deeply realized the emperor's fickleness, and felt discouraged, so he wrote a poem to laugh at himself.

His poem said: "Official positions must come from where they are born, so they can't be used when they are out of time; they are worthy of being a scholar of pottery in the Imperial Academy, and they can paint gourds every year." He used this to lament his lack of originality.

Later, the poem "draw a gourd according to the same pattern" gradually evolved into the saying "draw a scoop according to the gourd". "Painting according to gourds" is often used to refer to some people who only know how to imitate others and lack the spirit of innovation, but it has been used to this day and has become a synonym for "no originality".

5. Does "eighteen" in "Eighteen Changes of Women's University" refer to age
As the saying goes: "Girls change at the age of 18, and the more they change, the more beautiful they become." The general explanation for this statement is that when a woman is 18 years old, her appearance will become more and more beautiful.In fact, this is not the case. The "18" here does not specifically refer to age, but refers to the number of changes, which means that the appearance of girls is changeable.Why is it so changeable called [-]?
This is related to the hexagrams mentioned in the "Book of Changes": "There are eight changes in ten to form a hexagram." It is said that when King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned, he studied hard, stacked the two hexagrams in the eight hexagrams, and combined them to form a hexagram. There are 64 hexagrams and 384 lines, and based on this, the changes in nature and society are speculated, indicating that the interaction of yin and yang is the root of all things.Due to the mutual combination of Yao and hexagrams, there are many changes. Among the 64 hexagrams, each hexagram has 18 changes. Therefore, Hu Pu'an's "Common Dictionary" says: "Everything that changes is commonly used in 18 words." Number of sets.

There is such a story in the "Lotus Sutra: Deva Crystal": A dragon girl appeared at the Lotus Meeting. After seeing it, Shariputra, the great disciple of the Buddha, said that it is difficult to become a Buddha with a dirty female body.The dragon girl immediately presented the orb to Sakyamuni, and suddenly transformed into a male body, showing various solemn and subtle images, and then became a Buddha in the southern world of Wushou.So 18 changes" refers to the 18 kinds of magical changes that Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, etc. show through the power of meditation and freedom, which are often seen in Buddhist classics.

6. What is the relationship between the married daughter and the splashed water

In traditional society, a married woman is compared to water thrown out of the house.From the point of view of inheritance, although the girl Yu is the biological flesh and blood of her parents, she will marry and become a member of a family with a foreign surname after she grows up.It is a matter of course for women to get married, and it is also the destination of a woman's life. Although the inherent blood relationship is still retained on the surface, in fact, it has gradually become estranged from very close, and it has been poured out of the door like water.

In ancient times, there was a woman who was married at the age of 17. After three years of marriage, she still had no children. So her mother-in-law and husband made things difficult for her, and later beat and scolded her day and night.A year later, the mother-in-law married her son a new concubine, and the husband who loved the new and disliked the old divorced the woman in the name of "childless".When she returned to her natal family crying, her natal family pushed her out of the house again, on the grounds that "the married daughter, the water poured out, this is no longer your home!" In the end, the desperate woman had to throw herself into the river.

7. Why is it called "eating tofu" to take advantage of others? "Eating tofu" is a folk term for the term "sexual harassment" that has become popular in China in recent years.

In the past, farmers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces had funerals, and if they wanted to move a corpse from their homes to the cemetery for burial, they needed to invite some people to help.When it's time to eat, the host will set up a few tables in the courtyard or on the open space in front of the door, and serve meals to the villagers who are helping to eat.But at this time, there will also be some idlers who are too busy to help, but they also sit at the dinner table and eat.Even if the owner finds out, it is inconvenient to drive him out.The meals for funerals are relatively simple and clumsy, mainly tofu, and the white cover is the main color of funerals.Some fellow villagers who went to help said that they went to eat tofu rice because they were afraid to say that they were going to help at a funeral home.For the kind of guy who doesn't work but eats food, it is also said that he eats tofu.This is probably the root of the term "eating tofu".

There is one more thing to say. 'In the old days, tofu shops were mostly husband and wife shops. The husband got up in the middle of the night to grind tofu, and the wife sold tofu during the day.The proprietress of the tofu shop eats tofu as a regular food, so it naturally produces thin skin and tender meat. At the same time, in order to attract customers, she does not act coquettishly, which attracts men around her to come to the tofu shop to flirt with the proprietress under the pretext of "eating tofu".As a result, the jealous wives were dissatisfied and reprimanded their husbands with "Did you eat tofu again today?"Later, "eating tofu" became synonymous with men's frivolous women.

8. How did family ugliness come about
Family ugliness should not be publicized, which means that family scandals should not be passed on to the outside world.Now it is often used in a family or a unit to cover up a scandal to keep the outside world from knowing.The dictionary says this is an old saying.

So how did this come about?
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (220-589), special emphasis was placed on family blood, and family status was high and low.The official position and social status are all determined by this.Therefore, the concept of aristocrats is quite strong.On the other hand, feudal ethics such as "three cardinal guides and five constant virtues" and "three obediences and four virtues" are becoming more and more strict.Because some men and women of famous families enjoy hereditary inheritance and don't worry about food and clothing, they can't help but think about lust when they are full. There are often scandals such as pregnancy out of marriage, friendship between uncle and sister-in-law, and adultery with daughter-in-law.Once these things are spread, they will be punished by deprivation of official titles and becoming civilians.Therefore, once some famous family members make a fool of themselves, they will cover it up and make family rules: family scandals should not be publicized.Over time, this kind of family rule was not only widely adopted by the upper class, but also by some commoners, so it became a common saying.So far, this saying has a history of at least 1500 years.

10. Why do you say good things don’t go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles?

This is an old saying, which profoundly expresses the dark side of human nature that people "like to spread evil and hate to promote good".This sentence was quoted in Shi Daoyuan's "Jingde Chuan Deng Lu" and "Water Margin" in the Song Dynasty.

Here is another story.

When Zhao Kuangyin was young, he fought against injustice and was a chivalrous man.One day, he found a weeping and beautiful young girl locked in Qingyou temple in Taiyuan. After asking, he found out that her name was Zhao Jingniang, who was captured by robbers and stayed here. she.When Zhao Kuangyin was furious, he knocked down all the Linghua panes with a stick, and said: "If the strongman comes again, just say that Zhao opened the door of the palace and snatched it away." Back to my hometown in Puzhou.Along the way, the two are brother and sister, going through hardships, fighting and killing gangsters, beating bandit leaders, and taking good care of Jingniang's illness.When Jingniang thought of the kindness of the young master, her heart was moved. From then on, Jingniang respected Gongyu even more, and Gongyu also pitied Jingniang more.

When they arrived in Puzhou, Jingniang's parents suddenly saw their daughter coming back, they were overjoyed, and killed a pig and held a banquet in honor of the son.It was a good thing to send Jingniang off thousands of miles away, but after Zhao Gongyu returned to Taiyuan, it was widely spread in Taiyuan that the son robbed Jingniang.The young Zhao Kuangyin couldn't argue, and lamented: "It's true that good things don't go out, and evil things spread thousands of miles. What's more, what I did was not a bad thing? It can be seen that people's hearts are not old."

Later generations use the allusion "good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles" as a metaphor for the bad world, who like to spread evil and don't want to promote good.

10. What does forgiveness refer to

"Forgive others and forgive others" is a proverb and an adage. This sentence is included in "Zeng Guang Xian Wen" and "Wu Xia Proverbs".The common collocation is "you must drink when you drink, and you have to forgive others." Song Dynasty Yu Wenbao's "Origin of Changtan" recorded such a story.

There was a Taoist priest in Baoxin County, Caizhou, who was very good at playing Go. At first, he only played chess in his county, but after a long time he became invincible, so he left the county and walked towards the capital.Go to a city to win a city, go to a county to win a county.Went to the capital, played against the famous national player at that time, and won again.Year by year, the money he won from playing chess made him a rich man, and he gradually grew old. He deeply regretted that he played chess too seriously in the past and hurt the face of many people.Therefore, he wrote a poem, the last two lines of which are: "Since going out, you are invincible, you have to forgive others and forgive others!" He was so good that he also won the title of "National Player".

Later generations used the metaphor of "to forgive others and forgive others", when you can forgive others, you should be magnanimous and don't do anything wrong.

11. Why is "the sky strikes five thunders and booms" often become a vow to swear

"Heaven strikes five thunders and booms" means to swear and swear to suffer due retribution.In order to clear themselves, some people often swear, "If it were me, I would be struck by thunder." Some shrews also often swear at the street: "If you do immoral things, you will die, and you will be struck by thunder."

Why do you say five thunders?Are there still five thunders in the sky?It turns out that ancient people called the five death methods of gold, wood, water, fire and earth the five thunders.Killing with a knife is called golden thunder, beating to death with a wooden stick is called wooden mine, drowning is called water mine, burning to death is called fire mine, and crushing to death with an earthen wall is called earth mine.It is a heinous crime to be killed by lightning.

12. Why is a worthless person compared to a "crazy dog ​​who can't support a wall"

"A mangy dog ​​can't support a wall" is a metaphor for a worthless person who can't help him grow up.Cao Xueqin used this proverb when scolding Zhang Hua in the 68th chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions": "I can't complain about the saying: 'a mangy dog ​​can't support a wall'!"

According to legend, once upon a time there was a man named Yang Gou who made a fortune by raising dogs and became a local rich man.The secret of Yang Gou's fortune is that he doesn't raise dogs for ornamental purposes, nor ordinary domestic dogs. Instead, he raises excellent dogs that are good at chasing and running.Because these people have money in their families and their preferences, the price is quite high.Yang Gou is not only good at raising dogs, but also good at training them.One is to train running speed, the other is to train to cross trenches and the third is to train to cross obstacles.In particular, he is quite good at training dogs to overcome obstacles by taking advantage of the dog's ability to jump over walls.First, the bone was used to lure the dog to jump over the low wall, and then the dog was forced to jump over the high wall.Anyone who can jump over a high wall is considered a good dog, and anyone who cannot jump is considered a mangy dog.In order to train more good dogs, he always supports mangy dogs when they jump over the wall.He was so angry that he said: "No matter how much you help a mangy dog, it won't be able to support it against the wall." Those who watched him train the dog remembered his words.Later, people called those who failed to make progress no matter how much they helped them, as "a mangy dog ​​can't support the wall".

13. What does "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao" refer to?

"Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao" is often used to describe the attitude of not being sloppy in doing things and striving for perfection.There are two explanations.

One theory is that it originated from the calendar of the heavenly stems and earthly branches in our country.The heavenly stems are A, B, C, D, E, Ji, G, Xin, Ren, and Gui, and the earthly branches are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.By matching 10 stems with 12 branches, you can get 60 combinations such as Jiazi, Yichou, Bingyin, etc., which are called 60 Huajiazi.The combination of heavenly stems and earthly branches is of course "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao", and there must be no mistakes, otherwise the chronology will be chaotic.

Another theory holds that the original meaning of Ding and Mao refers to a basic structural method in wooden architecture and wooden utensils, that is, the tenon and tenon structure method.Mao refers to "mao eye", also known as "chisel"; D refers to "mortise head", also known as "枘" or "nail". "It is Mao" must be clearly distinguished, and there must be no mistakes.Because "ding" and "nail" are homophones, and the ding of A, B, C, Ding is easier to write than the nail of nails, people use the ding of A, B, B, B, Ding instead of the nail of nails. 'The original "a nail is a nail, and a mao is a mao" has become "a ding is a ding, and a mao is a mao".

Regarding the interpretation of "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao", although the two versions are different, they both explain the principle of being serious and accurate in doing things.

14. Where does "I always know three times" come from
People who are ignorant and ignorant are often dismissed as "one question and three ignorance".Where did this "three unknowns" come from?

The saying "Three Ignorances" first came from "Zuo Zhuan?The 27th Year of Duke Ai of Lu".During the Spring and Autumn Period, Gou Yao of the State of Jin led troops to besiege the State of Zheng.Gou Wenzi believed that it is best not to act hastily without knowing the enemy's situation. He said: "A gentleman's plan is also carried out from the beginning to the end, and later generations will follow. Now I don't know the three things and enter it. Isn't it difficult? "Xun Yao refused to listen to dissuasion and finally failed.

The so-called "three ignorance" means not knowing the beginning, process and result of a certain matter.Yao Fu, a man of the Ming Dynasty, also confirmed the saying in the book "Qingxi Leisure Brush": "The common saying is that in a hurry, you don't know the three things, that is, you can't know the beginning, middle and end. His words are based on the "Zuo Zhuan"." Later, people used "one question and three ignorance" to describe those who don't know anything and are hard to learn.

Huo Daxie: Twisted Blood Twisted: Spider Chengdi... "Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know" means that only you and I know this secret in the world, and you can't tell it to others.There is another story about this!

General Deng Zhi heard that Yang Zhen had both virtue and talent, so he recruited him and recommended him as a "maocai".After four promotions, he became governor of Jingzhou and prefect of Donglai. When he went to Donglai to take office, he passed by Changyi. Yang Zhen said: "I know you, old friend, but you don't know me, old friend. Why?" Wang Mi said: "It's late at night, no one will know, so you just accept it." Go!" Yang Zhen said (seriously): "Heaven knows, Earth knows, I know, I know. How can you say no one knows!" Wang Mi was ashamed.

15. How did "Don't dare to step beyond the threshold" come from?
"Don't dare to go one step beyond the threshold" means not daring to cross a certain boundary and scope.The language comes from "Book of Jin?Biography of Yu Liang".

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the political situation was very chaotic. At that time, the elder brother of the empress dowager, Yu Liang, served as Zhongshuling and held the administrative power of the court. Many ministers were dissatisfied with Yu Liang.General Su Jun led his troops to attack Jianye City (now Nanjing), the capital of Tongdu. Wen Qiao, the governor of Jiangzhou, was Geng Liang's confidant and best friend. He was worried about the safety of the capital and Yu Liang, so he planned to lead his troops eastward to rescue Yu Liang.Yu Liang analyzed the domestic situation and believed that the western border is more important, so he hurriedly sent a letter to Wen Qiao, saying: "The western border you are stationed in is even more important. I am worried that it is better than Su Jun's history." In Yangjun, you must sit in the original defense and do not cross Leishui (the ancient Leishui flows from the east of Huangmei County, Hubei Province, through Susong, Anhui Province, and forms a pond in the southeast of Wangjiang County, so it is called "Lei Pond") When you come to Kyoto, you can’t go beyond one step!”

Soon Su Jun led troops to attack Kyoto.The emperor ordered Yu Liang to conquer the rebel generals, and the two sides fought outside the Jianyang Gate in the capital city. As a result, Yu Liang was defeated and fled westward with only a few guards.Later, Yu Liang ran to Wen Qiao's defense line, redeployed troops and horses to encircle and suppress the rebels.

16. Why is it said that people should not be judged by their appearance?

"A man cannot be judged by his appearance, and the sea cannot be measured by his appearance" means not to judge a man by his appearance, but to measure a man objectively and comprehensively.This statement comes from a story in the Spring and Autumn Period.

(End of this chapter)