Idioms to scold

“I can’t think of any monsters… but there are these Chinese idioms that my parents would always say whenever they commented on my, well bad behavior, it’s usually a 4 word phrase that doesn’t really mean anything word for word, uh it is kinda like English idioms, like for example: spread oneself too thin, or things like that, but has a long history behind it that has some random and specific moral that relates to whatever they’re referring to. They’re actually pretty cool to know, there are thousands or some ridiculous number of them, so referencing them can actually be considered like being very knowledgeable/scholarly I believe. I just remember my parents scolding me with these random Chinese phrases that meant nothing to me but they’d keep repeating it and eventually I’d understand the meaning behind them too … and I just guess this is significant because well like I grew up with it so it made me want to like learn them because were parents were ALWAYS fucking saying them, it’s just another aspect that influenced my culture and folklore and such growing up, you know? And now I know a few so I’m proud of myself.”

Words of scorn are often very common when talking about folklore because they are used to shape the children’s actions and make them do more things that the parent found acceptable or such. It is the kind of folklore that allows the shaping of children through scolding or other means. It is also interesting that these words have probably been passed down from many many generations and form a very important part of the lives of many cultures because they grew up with it so they want to make sure that their children have this knowledge as well.