Author Archives: Andrew Maney

Gotcha!

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: marketing
Residence: Boston
Performance Date: 3/12/16
Primary Language: English

My father always plays this ridiculous game with us. The premise is fairly simple: you inconspicuously hold out your hand (below your waist!) in an “OK” formation, meaning thumb and pointer in an “O,” other fingers out. If a friend (or in our case, a son or daughter) sees the hand, you get to punch him.

I asked my dad where he learned this, he said,

“It’s something we used to always play as kids. On the playground or in class or at home we’d always sneakily try to fool our friends just so we could punch them. Living in a house with four boys, sometimes this game got a little out of hand…”

Forty years later he passed it on to his kids. My dad isn’t very mature; he still finds this game wildly amusing. And it really is. Fooling someone into looking at your hand just so you can smack them on the arm is a great time. What I love about this game is that it can be “played” whenever. We’ll have a hiatus for an entire year, and my dad pulls out the hand signal, gets my brother to look down, and all hell breaks loose. It becomes a war of trickery and flying fists.

I asked my father what this game is called and he couldn’t remember. I’ve decided to call it “Gotcha!” because this is how my dad likes to mock us whenever we fall for the trick and get punched on the arm.

Simple games such as Gotcha! are interesting because they don’t really offer the same value as full-fledged sports or card games due, yet they are so popular in our culture. All ages and all types of people know games like paddy cake or hot hands. These games’ simplicity is probably the reason for their popularity. There is zero setup or materials required, and the rules are so minimal that anyone can learn to play in seconds. Because of this, these types of games become widespread. It amazes me how much entertainment humans can get out of simply messing with each other. Our capacity to create captivating competitive games out of nothing is astounding.

Sun Wukong

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 20
Occupation: actor
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/4/16
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

JC is from Taiwan, a country heavily influenced by Chinese culture (the island was a part of China until 1945, China still considers it a territory). One of his favorite fictional characters is from Chinese mythology. His name is Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King. “He’s like a superhero,” J explains. “He goes around on all these adventures, beating up bad guys and saving people.” The character is actually a monkey who carries a giant staff and can transform into various other animals. J says that Sun Wukong “makes his enemies really small and puts them in gourds after defeating them.”

J says that he probably first learned about Sun Wukong from his parents or nanny. The Monkey King is involved in many stories that are told to kids from a young age. J tells me that he remembers making up Sun Wukong stories as a little boy, and pretending to be him while playing make-believe with his friends. The character is apparently very popular in China/Taiwan. He is somewhat of an idol for kids due to his cool fighting abilities.

The popularity of Sun Wukong as a mythological creature is apparent. He is exciting and interesting. The character has a rich history told through an array of stories. This defines the character a lot more than other legends or even myths. Sun Wukong has also become a part of popular western culture. A few characters from video games are modeled after the Monkey King due to his fighting abilities. The movie Kung Fu Panda 3 also features Sun Wukong. It is probably one of China’s most recognized mythological characters.

樹 倒 猢 猻 散

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 3/28/16
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

樹 倒 猢 猻 散

shù dǎo hú sūn (Chinese)

literal translation: “when a tree falls, the monkeys scatter”

 

My roommate, KY, was born in China and lived there for the first few years of his life. His parents always used many proverbs. This is one of his favorites. He says it describes “fair-weather fans.” He explains, “When a leader loses power his followers abandon him. Or the fans cheer for whoever’s winning.” As you can see from the translation, the literal meaning is that when the tree falls, which is the monkeys’ home, they abandon it.

K explains the interesting dichotomy present in this proverb. Chinese culture emphasizes loyalty: loyalty to the family, loyalty to the state. But it also emphasizes practicality and taking courses of action that will benefit you the most. “This proverb,” K explains, “criticizes disloyal people. But it also shows how to be practical.” Clearly it is disloyal to abandon your home, your leader, your family etc. But it also makes practical sense to find a new one if the old one is defunct.

It’s curious how much complex meaning a simple proverb can convey. I guess this is the point of proverbs. Sometimes it is difficult to describe deep ideas such as loyalty and pragmatism. So cultures develop seemingly simple sayings that can convey powerful messages. The proverb is unique because it can be easily shared and performed. It is usually a light piece, no longer than a sentence. But if the audience takes time to further digest the proverb, its true meaning becomes evident.

死馬當活馬醫

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/12/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

死馬當活馬醫

sǐ mǎ dāng huó mǎ  (Chinese)

literal translation: “Try to save the dead horse as if it is still alive”

 

My roommate, KY, was born in China and lived there for the first few years of his life. His parents always used many proverbs. This is one of his favorites. He says, “It means nothing is impossible. You should always work with the mindset that you will be able to achieve your goal.” From the literal translation, we see that the proverb is saying that even if a task is literally impossible (i.e. bringing a dead horse back to life), you should still try as if it is possible.

K says that he likes this proverb for two reasons:

“First, I think it has a good message. My parents expect me to achieve a lot. They know that I do some pretty difficult things with my schoolwork and research, but they’ve taught me to never back down. They’ve always repeated this to me whenever I feel stuck or like I can’t do something. It’s reassuring.

“Second, I think it’s pretty funny to picture someone trying to save a dead horse. Like what the heck do you do? Just keep giving it CPR? How do you even give CPR to a f**king horse?”

He then proceeded to laugh at himself for a few minutes.

As ridiculous as it is, K does have a point about humorous proverbs. They make an image stick in your mind. As I’ve found through my research, Chinese proverbs tend to use ridiculous scenarios to teach profound lessons such as “nothing is impossible.” The imagery employed in these proverbs is much more powerful than simply telling someone to “work hard” and “follow their dreams.” Trying to save a dead horse as if it is alive is a great image to conjure whenever you’re stuck on a seemingly impossible task. Throughout my research I’ve grown to love the dark humor of Chinese proverbs. They’re both hilarious and profoundly inspiring.

包子打狗

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 20
Occupation: actor
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/4/16
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

包子打狗

ròu bāo zi dǎ (Chinese)

literal translation: “to hit a dog with a meat bun”

 

My roommate, JC, told me this Chinese proverb. He is from Taiwan, a country heavily influenced by Chinese culture (the island was a part of China until 1945, China still considers it a territory). His father is a prominent businessman. J told me that his father always teaches him business lessons whenever he can. “Business strategies are very important to my dad and to Taiwanese culture in general. Parents often run their houses like a business, with strict rules and practices. Taiwan is a very efficient and fair country.”

J learned this proverb from his father, and it always stuck out in his mind. He says that it means you can’t punish someone with something they’ll enjoy. “Or furthermore,” he elaborates, “do not take the wrong approach to solving a problem.” If you throw a meat bun at a dog to hurt him, he’ll eat the meat bun and enjoy it. And he will not learn his lesson.

This proverb preaches thinking about the right solution to a problem, and using the right tools to get there. I understand why a businessman such as J’s father would like this proverb. Business requires thinking about each problem individually and using a unique approach to solving it.

I enjoy this proverb because it uses a funny scenario to teach an important lesson. I see why this specifically has stuck in J’s mind. Telling someone to “always think” is vague advice. But putting it in the context of an interesting scenario makes the lesson much more valuable and easy to remember. If I’m ever faced with a difficult problem and I want to jump right to an easy solution, I’m going to think about this proverb. I’m going to think, “Wait, am I just trying to throw a meat bun at a dog?” The visualization that the proverb provides makes the message much more powerful. This explains the importance of proverbs. They are simple way to convey profound lessons.