Hi,
In the Chinese language there are quite a number of characters referring to
'rice', for instance, 'mi' as rice before it's cooked but after being
processed; 'fan' is cooked rice, 'dao' is rice still growing in the paddy,
'gu' is rice after being harvested and taken off the straws, 'yang' is young
rice shoots before they are moved into the paddy. And these are just
examples of 'rice characters', which can be combined with many other
characters to form words that refer to different kinds of rice or different
rice products or rice related things or activities, or how the rice is
cooked (whether steamed, or boiled, and with how much water).
I don't wish to create another myth but want to make the point that
different language 'thinks' differently and has different priorities. Maybe
that's why the snow myth is so readily accepted by people. My own experience
is constant frustration by the poverty of English when it comes to rice.
But, then, at the same time the Chinese only have one word for cheese so far
as I know ('ethnic' languages change very quickly these days under the
influence of English) and I still cannot tell my relatives in China what's
the difference between ham and baken, both of which the Chinese refer to as
'salted meat'.
Yiyan
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