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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:30:06 -0400
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Delicious. A laundry tag, perhaps the most familiar among things Chinese for
MT.


on 6/27/11 3:49 PM, Xilao Li at [log in to unmask] wrote:

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> This might well be a tag as Mark Twain saw it then, "pinned to the =
> clothes," used as a shorthand note or reminder.=20
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> --The middle three characters means "Mr. L--", apparently the customer.=20
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> --The first character in a smaller size has to be rotate by 90% to the =
> left and it is "Guang" which can mean: light; ray; honor; smooth, or =
> shining, etc. So, it may be possible: "The item is to be ironed."
> =20
> --The last character is an old-styled character "Sheng" which =
> means:litre [volume]; arise;raise; advance; hoist, etc. So, it may be =
> possible: "Hang it up."=20
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> I am just guessing, but one thing is certain: all characters are =
> genuinely Chinese words.  =20
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> ________________________________
> 
> From: Mark Twain Forum on behalf of Harold Bush
> Sent: Mon 6/27/2011 11:49 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Translation of Chinese characters in Roughing It =
> illustration
> 
> 
> 
> I'm looking at p. 392, with 5 characters: mostly nonsense, evidently; it
> would be interesting to figure out where the heck they came from.  Or =
> why MT
> would not take 5 minutes to find a Chinese person to put something real =
> and
> significant ... but I was just reading this morning about the horrible
> treatment of the Chinese at that time, so I guess it amounts to a sort =
> of
> contempt/disinclination to take them seriously enough to use actual =
> Chinese
> characters, and to make up complete drivel.
> 
> As a group they make zero sense.  from top to bottom they are:
> 
> a phony -- made up??  this one is the most suspect and clearly just =
> scrawled
> drivel
> 
> row: as in a row of houses or of crops, or people, seats, or anything
> 
> 3rd & 4th together =3D mister, Mr.
> 
> 5th =3D more nonsense: illegible
> 
> 
> ps: in case anyone has grand delusions about my Longfellow-like language
> skills, these were analyzed by my dear wife; no I am not quite capable =
> of
> doing this alone, just got me curious so I called her over.
> 
> here's a link in google books, FYI:
> 
> books.google.com/books?id=3DBKgvAAAAMAAJ&pg=3DPR11&dq=3Dchapter+54+of+Rou=
> ghing+It&hl=3Den&ei=3Dp7EIToPCOuGosAK66cnGDQ&sa=3DX&oi=3Dbook_result&ct=3D=
> result&resnum=3D1&ved=3D0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=3Donepage&q&f=3Dfalse
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Scott Holmes =
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> 
>> Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a translation of the
>> illustration in chapter 54 of Roughing It?  I had assumed that it
>> represented a laundry tag.  Mark notes that many Chinese, in Virginia
>> City, were employed in the laundry business and always attached a tag =
> or
>> bill to cleaned clothing.
>> 
>> I asked a friend, from mainland China, but she was unable to provide a
>> clear translation.  She did think that it probably represented or was
>> possibly found as part of a shrine.  Mark also spend some time in this
>> chapter discussing how the Chinese deal with their dead.
>> 
>> 
>> 
> --
> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> Professor of English
> Saint Louis University
> St. Louis, MO  63108
> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>

-- 
Linwood Cottage, Sheffield

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to
take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson


http://fch-senseandnonsense.blogspot.com/

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