Monday, June 3, 2013

Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ

Over a year after this post ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ, I was chatting with this auntie of mine who is a retired Chinese teacher and mentioned to her this strange memory I have about the pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui]  for 關說.

According to her, a veteran teacher who started teaching after graduating from college till she finally retired... ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] was the correct pronunciation... as in 遊說 (yóu shuì, lobbying).  The thing is that everyone said it wrong and people eventually came to believe that ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is the correct way to have the term pronounced... to the extend that it's listed as the correct pronunciation in the online dictionary maintained by the Ministry of Education.

So, if you pronounce it the right way today, ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui], you will be considered to have pronounced it wrong and be corrected with the formerly-known-as-incorrect pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo]... while those who correct your pronunciation really believe that ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] is wrong and ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is right.

(Am I sure am I sure am I sure?  I ain't sure about no nothing though since the 說 in 關說 means 遊說.  It does make sense for it to be pronounced the same way.  Just 賈雨村言 la!)

由人代為請託遊說

史記‧梁孝王世家》:「上廢栗太子,竇太后心欲以孝王為後嗣,大臣及袁盎等有所關說於景帝。」
(Mama mia! Even 史記 is out... just don't know which dialect they spoke then... 8-O lol)



Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ: Don't know why I though the 說 in 關說 should be a 破音字... instead of sounding like ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] ... I thought it should sound like...

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