三字经

[zhwj]

Where is the term 三字经 used?

I was watching an overseas-produced documentary the other day with a group of mainland friends, and they had no clue what the phrase meant. I'd heard it before, so I was able to inform them, but apart from a pop song from Taiwan (恋爱症候群), I don't remember the context.

Is it a local term somewhere, an overseas import (analogue to "four-letter word"), or were my northeast Chinese friends just unusually naive?

Also, does 骂三字经 refer to any curse in particular? TMD? XNN?

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

In Chinese, curse words, 3 words mainly, are called 三字經. Examples are many, and you can figure out what they are: 幹xx, 操xx, etc. However, I think any curse words regardless of its numbers can be categorized as 三字經. I'm wondering if the term is borrowed because of the book 三字經, which is 3 words pattern. Also, 他罵髒話 means the same as 他罵三字經. Right now, 國罵 the phrase is coming to me, and what the 國罵 for Chinese is just on the tip of my tongue.

By the way, 戀愛症候群 is wirtten and sung by 黃舒駿. The following is its lyrics link: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~nghoongk/lyrics/singer326-1.html#lyric8

Hope it helps!

[Quest]

I think 三字经 as 骂脏话 was invented in Hong Kong. As always, HK vocab are more easily adapted and accepted in Taiwan than in the mainland.

[zhwj]

Thanks. semantic nuance, I'd not heard of 国骂 before, but googling it turns up some interesting stuff.

Quest: That's sort of what I was thinking; thinking back, I think I've read stuff in the celebrity gossip pages that use 三字经 when celebrities use foul language, and those journalists tend to style themselves after HK or Taiwan.

[Altair]

Below is some information from the English Wikipedia regarding the original Sanzijing.

I remember watching a movie set in the early 1800s (perhaps Tai Chi II) where the children's lessons consisted of being forced to recite this "classic." If I recall correctly, the scene was meant to portray a contrast between children dutifully learning their lessons in isolation from society and going out in true wuxia fashion, cutting their queues, and fighting the British opium trade.

Three Character Classic

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The Three Character Classic, Trimetric Classic or even Sanzijing (三字經) is one of the Chinese classic texts. It was probably written in the 13th century and attributed to Wang Yinglin (王應麟, 1223-1296) during the Song Dynasty.

The work is not one of the traditional six Confucian classics, but rather the enbodiment of Confucian thought suitable for teaching young children. Until the latter part of the 19th century, it served as a child's first formal education at home. The text is written in triplets of characters for easy memorization. With illiteracy common for most people at the time, the oral tradition of reciting the classic ensured its popularity and survival through the centuries. With the short and simple text arranged in three-character verses, children learned many common characters, grammar structures, elements of Chinese history and the basis of Confucian morality.

The text fell into disuse during the Cultural Revolution given the State's opposition to feudal ideologies. The classic, however, continued to circulate in other parts of the Chinese-speaking world with its inclusion in the Chinese Almanac (通勝) along with several other classics such as the Thousand Character Classic.

The first four verses state the core credo of Confucianism as developed by Confucius' follower Mencius. The idea was enshrined in the state orthodoxy for the most part of imperial Chinese period: Human nature is good and unique.

人之初 性本善 性相近 習相遠 People at birth,

Are naturally good.

Their natures are similar,

Their habits make them different.

Even nowadays, the above two introductory quotes are very familiar to most youths in Taiwan, if not known by the heart. Though it is no longer taught at public schools, some Taiwanese parents still use this classic to teach their infants to pronounce words. It is an occasional Taiwanese elementary school game for children to and show off who can recite the most sentences from this classic