Friday 11 October 2013

一二三四五六七 孝悌忠信禮義廉 "1 2 3 4 5 6 7..."


一二三四五六七
 

孝悌忠信禮義廉

横批 《王八無恥》
 
A "Numbers" Homonym-Omission Couplet
-- by Anon (Qing Dynasty)

-- Translated by Frank C Yue

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven"
(... A child can say these, even!)
 They represent "Loyalty, Faithfulness, Filial Piety,
Brotherly Love, Courtesy, Righteousness and Humility".
But when "No. Eight" is missing it's NOT the same --
That means the "last virtue" is absent: There's "No Shame"!


Atop the couplet, you see,
Just four words are written:
(Homonyms) "Wang Ba" for "Bastard!" sounding like "Eight forgotten",
And "Wu Chi" that means "No Shame" blatantly!


<波浪男兒:

上聯沒「八」,意在言外為「忘八」,諧音「王八」,
下聯缺「恥」,意指「無恥」。是罵人之對聯。

横批為 《王八無恥》。>

also from the net:

... <(此聯) 典故來源不詳,但在清朝時已被流傳,與上聯「一二三四五六七」一併使用。 「孝悌忠信禮義廉」有時被簡化為「禮義廉」,效果與「孝悌忠信禮義廉」相同。>

又另有横批為 《南北忘(王)八》,意即 《不是 '東西 ,無恥' 》!

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