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Strokes of genius - 马
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Long head, big eye, flying manes, vivid hooves, drooping tail. … All of those elements were adopted when the Chinese ancestors were working on the Oracle bone script “马” mǎ, for “horse.”
Recently, a picture of a horse carrying a pile of banknotes has been reposted again and again, which illustrates a really popular homophone New Year’s joke:
马上有钱 Mǎ shang yǒu qián.
Since “马上” mǎ shang, means either “on the horse” or “immediately,” totally depending on the context, the plain sentence “there is money on the horse” has been turned into a funny wish for “becoming rich right away.”
Of course, we also have serious good wishes for the Year of the Horse:
龙马精神 lóngmǎjīngshen full of vigor and vitality (as strong as dragon and horse)
马到成功 mǎdàochénggōng win instant success (upon arrival of a fine horse)
In addition, the animal, “马”mǎ, also can mean something abstract: “马脚” mǎ jiǎo, which is, word for word, “horse foot,” is a metaphor for “something that gives the game away.”
骗子奇怪的口音让他露出了马脚。
piànzi qíguài de kǒuyīn ràng tā lùchū le mǎjiǎo.
The imposter’s strange accent has given himself away.
Why isn’t it ox, pig or sheep? Why particularly horse? One of the origins of that phrase is actually related to an empress in the Ming Dynasty, née “马”mǎ. She avoided binding her feet to create “Lotus feet,” and always hid her big feet under a long dress. One day, however, the wind blew up her dress and her secret was revealed.
In fact, not only is “马”mǎ a common surname, but it is frequently used for transcriptions of proper names, too. From the countries “马来西亚”mǎláixīyà(Malaysia) and “马尔他”mǎ’ěrtā(Malta) through the cities “马德里” mǎdélǐ(Madrid) and also “马尼拉” mǎnílā(Manila) to many other interesting words such as “马卡龙” mǎkǎlóng (Macaron) and 马拉松mǎlāsōng (marathon)
(For more tips, please contact the author Emma Ding via info@ emmalanguagestudio.com.)
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