Nothing like an adage or idiom in a foreign language to make you ponder the meaning of life!
Shoshikantetsu
61–70 of 126 posts
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#62Here is another one, though admittedly I don't know its direct translation.
Shisakanku
It means something like "point and do" (probably completely wrong but should capture the essence) and it's a technique to help avoid mistakes which I found actually works.
Needless to say, I was also weirdly fascinated with it the first time I heard of it.
You can see it in action here:
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#63If you enjoy this, buy the book "The Japanese Have a Word For It"
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Have-Word-Complete-Thought/d...
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#64Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
> To point at a deer and call it a horse.
When indigenous Mexicans first met Spaniards, they described their horses (which are not native to the New World, so they had never seen before) as “a sort of giant deer”.
It’s totally off-topic here but I always thought that was interesting.
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#65I write passion project software, and I decided a while ago that I would do at least one commit per day, even if it is just updating todo.txt or writing a one-line comment. It has served me well.
I can't say that I've had a perfect streak, but I've had streaks spanning weeks and months long when I was productive on this project.
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#66Here is another one, though admittedly I don't know its direct translation. Shisakanku It means something like "point and do" (probably completely wrong but should capture the essence) and it's a technique to help avoid mistakes which I found actually works. Needless to say, I was also weirdly fascinated with it the first time I heard of it. You can see it in action here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Av_Kkh3mp4E
Shisa kanko (指差喚呼) translates directly as "finger pointing verbal check".
Dictionary entry: https://jisho.org/word/%E6%8C%87%E5%B7%AE%E5%96%9A%E5%91%BC
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#67Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
> To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right.
Love this. A good English equivalent is “the emperor’s new clothes.”
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#68I call the strategy 'lowering the bar'. As an old, I now set all my goals to be so small that I have almost achieved them merely by waking each morning.
I like to say that I have lowered my bar so much that I can roll over it while laying on the floor. I am very successful in accomplishing my 'original intent'. Consequently, my life is nearly perfect.
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#69There are thousands of 4 letter idioms in Chinese and I believe in Japanese too, a very common game in China is a group of people each say a 4 letter idiom and next person say another that starts with the last letter of the last one said.
Re: Shoshikantetsu
#70Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
> To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. [...]
I wonder how much further ahead of western cultures, eastern asian cultures would have been if they didn't kill (or commit suicide) every time someone made a mistake.