- Xiehouyu
"Xiehouyu" (Chinese: 歇後語 "a saying with the latter-part suspended") is a kind of consisting of two elements: the former segment presents a novel scenario while the latter provides the rationale thereof. One would often only state the first part, expecting the listener to know the second.
Pun is sometimes invoked in a "xiehouyu", thus a "xiehouyu" in one dialect can be unintelligible to a listener speaking another. Valuable linguistic data can sometimes be gleaned from ancient "xiehouyu".Examples
*外甥打燈籠──照舅 (舊)
**pinyin : wàishēng dǎ dēnglong -- zhào jiù (jiù)
**translation: nephew handling [a] lantern - illuminating/according to [his] uncle ( [the] old [way] )
**gloss : as usual, as before
**Note: 舅 and 舊 are a pair of homophones, and 照 means "according to" as well as "to illuminate"*皇帝的女儿──不愁嫁
**pinyin : huángdì de nǚér -- bù chóu jià
**translation: the daughter of the emperor -- need not worry that she cannot soon be wed
**gloss : someone or something that is always wantedReferences
*Rohsenow, John Snowden. "A Chinese-English dictionary of enigmatic folk similes (xiēhòuyǔ)". Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991.
*"Zhongguo da baike quanshu ". First Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. 1980-1993.External links
* [http://wanlihong.free.fr/xiehuoyuwanlihongyongjin.htm A collection of "xiehouyu"]
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