{"id":55521,"date":"2022-08-03T08:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T13:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=55521"},"modified":"2022-08-03T12:25:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:25:20","slug":"scurrying-like-a-rat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=55521","title":{"rendered":"Scurrying (like a rat)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone referred to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as \"foolhardy\".\u00a0 That prompted the following response from a sensitive and perceptive Chinese observer:<\/p>\r\n

Foolhardy – reminds me of the phrase, cu\u00e0n f\u01ceng \u7ac4\u8a2a, used to report Pelosi's visit in all official Chinese news \/ channels.<\/b> Whether appropriate or not, I have to marvel at how the single word \u7ac4, both its graph and sound, conjures up an image of reckless rats scurrying. There are people good at wording for the purpose of controlling.<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

That is a stunningly brilliant insight.\u00a0 It will take some unpacking to explain why.<\/p>\r\n

The f\u01ceng \u8a2a part of the locution is easy:\u00a0 for the purposes of this expression, it simply means \"to visit\", though in other contexts it can also mean \"to ask; to inquire\".\u00a0 To fully comprehend the implications of \"cu\u00e0n f\u01ceng \u7ac4\u8a2a\", one must grasp both the denotations and the connotations of the modifier, <\/span><\/span>cu\u00e0n \u7ac4.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Dictionaries list the following definitions for cu\u00e0n \u7ac4 (18 strokes)<\/span><\/span> (simplified \u7a9c [12 strokes]):<\/p>\r\n

escape; flee; go in exile; banish; leap; run away; hide; revise; edit (to doctor, alter); expel; channel(ing)<\/p>\r\n

The glyph is said to be an ideogrammic compound, showing a rodent (sh\u01d4<\/a> <\/span>\u9f20) [hiding in] a hole (xu\u00e9 \u7a74).<\/p>\r\n

I doubt that any Western media have captured the caustic nuances of cu\u00e0n f\u01ceng \u7ac4\u8a2a in their accounts of the whirlwind visit to Taiwan of the Speaker of the House.\u00a0 Since I will soon be going down into the SEPTA<\/a> subway<\/a>, I will certainly have a vivid appreciation of the furtive-assertive behavior of rats scurrying over, under, and around the tracks — and hiding in holes next to them.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n