ma nian - seeing phrases like '马上有钱' - meaning?

[trisha2766]

I've seen a few phrases like '马上有钱' around this year for the year of the horse.  But I never noticed anything like this for other Chinese New Year's. 

 

Can anyone explain this in more detail?  I don't mean the translation of that phrase, but why am I seeing it with the year of the horse, but didn't see it before.  The cultural significance? 

 

I've also seen pictures of small toy like horses with money on their backs - like described in the phrase. 

 

And I think I've seen other similar phrases that started with 马上. 

 

What does it all mean?

[gato]

It's Chinese Scrabbles basically. People like to add the word "horse" into the usual New Year's greetings.

Another popular greeting is "马到成功", which does not refer to money.

[trisha2766]

Ok, I've just remembered the other meaning of 马上 - so I guess it kind of makes more sense.  Still if anyone can explain more about it, it would be greatly appreciated.

[trisha2766]

Another followup already - can you say it without the 有?  Like does 马上健康 make any sense? 

 

Of course 成功 and 健康 are somewhat abstract so you couldn't literally put them on a toy horse like you can money anyway.

[OneEye]

This one's my favorite so far. 馬上有對象 meaning "(a wish to) immediately find a partner/significant other" and also meaning "there's a pair of elephants facing each other on top of a horse."

 

[ouyangjun]

It's just a play on the Chinese word 马上 - meaning immediately / at once / right away.  Every year during Chinese New Year the year of whatever animal it is makes its way into Chinese pop culture in the form of sayings, designs, advertisements, etc.  The year of the horse just happens to be very convenient for colloquial Chinese.  For example, leading up to the Chinese New Year I was hearing sayings such as, “马上有钱，马上有福，马年快到了”。  Just using 马 in colloquial Chinese tied in with New Year Greetings.  

[imron]

But I never noticed anything like this for other Chinese New Year's.

Congratulations.  This means your Chinese has improved

 

This sort of thing happens every year.

[trisha2766]

That elephant threw me off quite a bit.

 

imron - don't know if my Chinese is improving that much, I wish it was though.  Maybe I just paid more attention this year. 

 

马年快到了 - so does the 快到 mean come soon as well as money coming? 

[skylee]

As said in #6, it is a sort of word play. As the word 馬上 not only features the animal of the year but also has the meaning of immediately. So putting it together with well wishing words adds a layer to the wishes - you don't just wish someone to get rich 發財, but wish that to happen immediately. It is funny.

 

Re #4, it is ok to say 馬上健康.

 

PS - re #8, I don't think 馬年快到了 conveys any good wishes.

 

PPS - re #7, what sort of things happens every year?

[Kelby]

It's a play on words since as others have mentioned.

My personal favorites are a plastic surgery ad saying 马上变美女. And the comprehensive well wish of 祝各位各种马上

[imron]

PPS - re #7, what sort of things happens every year?

Plays on words based on which animal it is that particular year.

[roddy]

What ones are there for the other years though, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Horse does lend itself quite well,with 马上 and 马到成功. I love the elephants one. 

[Lu]

I too like the elephant one :-)

 

Trisha, I hope you get the idea by now. Possibly redundant, but the pun is that 马上 = immediately, but 马上 also = on top of the horse, or in this case, riding on the year of the horse. So 马上有钱 means 'get rich immediately' but also 'there's a lot of money on the horse'.

 

I can't remember last year's puns, but I'm sure they were there. They're just easier to make this year.

[Demonic_Duck]

For 蛇年 I saw 蛇延福城 on a gigantic snake statue on the Xi'an city wall. I don't know if there's a pun in there though (maybe 城/成, although that doesn't involve the 蛇)?

[Meng Lelan]

OneEye thank you for sharing that papercut image. I absolutely enjoyed the wordplay implied therein. 

[Guest realmayo]

I remember 'happy 牛 year' 

 

Addit: and "happy new year 兔 you" ..................

[Echo_yuan]

I quite agree with #6. It a new way of expressing best wishes for the new year of the horse.  I haven't seen it before. It has just been invented by some netizen and get widespread quickly. Nearly every greeting includes it and it doesn't need to be followed with "有”， like "马上发财”（get rich right away). "马上“ is a pun here. One meaning is "right away, at once", and the other is "on the back of the horse". So here come the phrase "马上。。。“and the picture of a horse with money or a pair of elephants on it. Either of them is just the good wish for the new year which happen to be the year of the horse.

We all know that the netizens are so talented that they have invented many new words in recent years, such as "人艰不拆“ （It's so difficult to living in the world, so please do not debunk a lie）and "喜大普奔”（People are so glad with a good news and run to the place where the news about). 

[trisha2766]

Thanks!  I get it now.  For some reason the meaning of 马上 didn't pop in my head right away. 

 

Is there any significance to 2 horses or 5?  I saw where China sprout is selling decorations, one with 2 horses and one a wall hanging with 5 horses.   My daughter's class learned a poem with '两匹马' in it, which was maybe just a coincidence.  And when I did a search for 五马 some results came up, the name of a city or something.  Maybe just a coincidence though.  But was wondering why 5 horses on the hanging?  Why not 8, a lucky number at least?

[Echo_yuan]

I don't think there are any special meaning for two horses or five horses on a painting. It's random. The  Xu Beihong has painted a lot of paintings with horse as the theme. Some has only one horse, some with two, or three, or four or five, or hundred. It can be any number. Decided by the painter‘s preference and the composition of the picture. But you're right about the number 8, it's a lucky number in China and the commonest painting of horse including 8 of that, which is called "八骏图”.