Popular chinese sayings/lines in wuxia. List them!

[palmchange]

hey, i like these wuxia sayings. Is it going to be available on wuxiapedia.com?

[Zhuge Liang]

This thread had me in stitches.

My favourite is "I'll use you as a corpse mattress".

[Du Gu seeking a win]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnysnow
26. boy, girl thin thin not green

That's a good one! It's part-translation, and part-transliteration. Makes it more challenging for the listener/reader.

*
nan nü shou shou bu jing?

[Du Gu seeking a win]

Some lines:

- a three-legged cat show

- one singing, three sighs

- river water not offend well water

- no fight, no friendship

[HuangYushi]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnysnow
26. boy, girl thin thin not green

*
nan nü shou shou bu jing?

Close enough! The last word should be "qin" [亲]. Nevertheless, congrats!

[linghuchong]

"Stand not change name,
Sit not change surname"
*Insert your name after that*

The translation is obviously not proper english, but it literally translates as that.

This saying is also quiet popular

[Du Gu seeking a win]

Close enough! The last word should be "qin" [亲]. Nevertheless, congrats!

*
The qin1 you gave [亲] means: (blood) relative, to love.

The correct one should be qin4 [ 揿 ] meaning: touching/pressing with the hand

[SteveF]

far water can't save near fire

[HuangYushi]

*
The qin1 you gave [亲] means: (blood) relative, to love.
The correct one should be qin4 [ 揿 ] meaning: touching/pressing with the hand

You have a very good point because the phrase does deal with the touching of the hand. At the same time, qin1 [亲] also refers to "closeness", in addition to the other meanings. So it might be good to find out at this point if my dictionary (by the Beijing Foreign Language Press) has actually printed the right thing or not.

Can a third party clarify please? Should the phrase be:
(a) 男女授受不亲, or
(b) 男女授受不揿

[XiaoYu]

You have a very good point because the phrase does deal with the touching of the hand. At the same time, qin1 [亲] also refers to "closeness", in addition to the other meanings. So it might be good to find out at this point if my dictionary (by the Beijing Foreign Language Press) has actually printed the right thing or not.

Can a third party clarify please? Should the phrase be:
(a) 男女授受不亲, or
(b) 男女授受不揿

I asked Google
Results:
20,600 hits for (a) 男女授受不亲
0 hits for (b) 男女授受不揿


This is a cool thread. I like the "evil heart hot hand" translation; quite different!

It kinda seems like many of the ones listed are still used in everyday language (qing mei zhu ma; wang en fu yi; suo tou wu gui, hehe); maybe just not in a do-you-want-to-fight kind of way And some are idioms while others are just figures of speech or common ways of speaking that aren't just confined to works of wu xia. But they do sound so much cooler in those contexts!

Idioms, idioms up the wazoo... (Where did they come up with all these? )
~borrow flowers to give Buddah/jie hua xian fo (use someone else's thing as your own)
~hug the Buddah's legs in emergencies/lin shi bao fo jiao (only care when it's too late)
~iron rod can be rubbed into a needle/tie chu mo cheng zhen (persistence)
~enter the wood three 'inches'/ru mu san fen (give a deep impression)
~fish for the moon in the water/shui zhong lao yue (futility)
~playing (what instrument is it supposed to be? a yang qin?) instrument to a cow/dui niu tan qin (talking to the wrong audience)
~(one my parents use on me all the time)polish your spear right before battle; even if it's not sharp it'll be shiny/lin shi mo qiang, bu kuai ye guang (for happy times of procrastination!)

Some other random sayings, hope I'm not repeating too many:
--when standing beneath a ledge, you can't help lowering your head
--looking to die? tired of living? asking for a beating? (quality ones right there!)
--climb the blade-filled mountains, descend into firey seas
--crouching tiger, hidden dragon
--people beyond people, heavens beyond heavens
--die unable to close my eyes/die unsatisfied
--your teacher for one day, your father for a lifetime
--ride the donkey, read the songbook; walk and watch
--the good show's at the end
--spray blood at others (always got a nasty mental pic of this)

Interesting how I think in English, commonly-used phrases such as these would be considered bad taste/cliches populating trashy romances and supermarket tabloids, while in Chinese I think they enrich the language.

[Du Gu seeking a win]

You have a very good point because the phrase does deal with the touching of the hand. At the same time, qin1 [亲] also refers to "closeness", in addition to the other meanings. So it might be good to find out at this point if my dictionary (by the Beijing Foreign Language Press) has actually printed the right thing or not.

Can a third party clarify please? Should the phrase be:
(a) 男女授受不亲, or
(b) 男女授受不揿

*
Sorry, you (a) are correct. I've checked again.

[HuangYushi]

Sorry, you (a) are correct. I've checked again.

No worries. I make mistakes too.

[SteveF]

Gentleman move mouth not move hand

[Dirt]

shun wo de shang, ni wo shi wang

shen zhe wei wang, bai zhe wei kou.

[Trien Chieu]

If you don't go into a tiger cave how can you catch a baby tiger.

As long as there is a green forest don't worry about short of wood to chop.

Sky and land is one family.

A small fire can burn down a whole forest.

Evil can not win over rightfulness.

100 fight, 100 wins.

Winner is king, loser is rebel.

36 strategies, running is wise.

Misery is limitless, turning back is shore.

[30Rocker]

話說天下大勢 分久必合 合久必分
hua shuo tian xia da shi / fen jiu bi he / he jiu bi fen

It's inevitable in this world that anything long divided will unite, and anything long united will divide.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Does that count as wuxia? I think it kind of captures a lot of the turmoil in most of these stories.