lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 02:45 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 02:45 AM In China, you can have your fortune told by having the fortune teller look at a single character that you have written. One day, a man walked up to a fortune teller, took a stick, and drew a horizontal line on the ground. The fortune teller immediately stood up, knelt down, and kowtow'd to the man. Why? Quote
CathaySpecific Posted December 30, 2015 at 03:09 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 03:09 AM Not sure, but ...aren't all lines drawn on the ground horizontal? Assuming the ground is flat, anyway. So that part seems redundant. 1 Quote
lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 03:18 AM Author Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 03:18 AM Thanks. I mean "a line from left to right". Quote
dwq Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:55 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:55 AM Because he saw the hundreds of Secret Service agents protecting the man? Ground = Earth? Quote
lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:56 AM Author Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:56 AM Hint: more explicitly, "drew a line from left to right on the soil". Quote
lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 06:02 AM Author Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 06:02 AM it has to do with three very simple Chinese characters (not more than 4 strokes each). Quote
Tiana Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:37 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:37 AM The horizontal line may give the fortune teller the idea that the man is number one, bound to be someone important in the making? Quote
edelweis Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:47 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:47 AM oh I get it 土 + 一 = 王 2 Quote
iand Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:53 AM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 11:53 AM Some pun to do with "one" and 皇 or 王, 帝 and 地, and 皇上 and 地上? Quote
lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 12:07 PM Author Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 12:07 PM Great! :thumbs: Quote
889 Posted December 30, 2015 at 01:48 PM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 01:48 PM Shouldn't that be written 一上土？ Quote
lips Posted December 30, 2015 at 01:56 PM Author Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 01:56 PM the man wrote the character "one" 一 *on* the soil 土。The resulting character is 王 (king). Quote
edelweis Posted December 30, 2015 at 02:34 PM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 02:34 PM I think 889 objected to the use of "+" in the formula and prefers the notation 一/土=王. I arbitrarily decided that "+" as a hanzi operator is a graphical composition operator disregarding the relative position of the operands Maybe it's more intuitive like this: 一 + 土 = 王 I think with 一 and 土 as operands, the + operation is unambiguous though. Or can they be combined some other way to make a different character?? Quote
Tiana Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:14 PM Report Posted December 30, 2015 at 04:14 PM Interestingly, I almost hit the jackpot in my earlier post and wrote: "...the idea that the man is number one, is a KING in the making" but then I edited it into a less direct form: "...the idea that the man is number one, bound to be someone important in the making". Quote
Insideoutjoy Posted January 5, 2016 at 07:03 PM Report Posted January 5, 2016 at 07:03 PM That's a great riddle! Quote
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