User Comments - neutral_tone

Posted on: Picking Up 拿

sylvia11

Sorry if I was a bit vague.

In Chinese 口 does not just mean "mouth", but also "mouthful". For example, "给我一口面包”  "give me a bite of bread".

Here one 饺子 is just about the right size to fit in your mouth, hence, take one 饺子 here represented as 一口 and put it it their hand.

Does that make sense? I can clarify further it needed. Glad everyone liked the story.

Posted on: Picking Up 拿

Pete

You commented about 拿 being 合 and 手 combined.

I heard slightly different. There was a story that a Chinese master left a big plate of 饺子 in his study for the servant to pick up and take to the mistress, so he wrote 拿 on a piece of paper in loose script from the top of a piece of paper to the bottom.

The servant looked at the piece of paper and smiled, and then went through to the kitchen to give each servant one 饺子. Later, the mistress was very hungry and yelled at her husband, who in turn reprimanded the servant.

The servant replied that he had given everyone in the kitchen one 饺子. The master was very angry and asked why the servant would do something so stupid. The servant said it was written on the piece of paper:-

                    人     一     口      手    

Which he thought meant, "each man, one mouth(ful) in his hand."

Have you heard that one before? I love that story!

Great lesson - thanks!