Talk:二百五
To add to entry
[edit]To add to this entry: is the Chinese definition (meaning "stupid" or "simpleton") a fairly new usage, or has it been around for a long time? What are the first known usages of this term? 173.88.246.138 09:49, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
Chinese etymology
[edit]Is it possible that this Chinese etymology is correct?
There was a prominent man in the Warring States period named Shu Qin, who was well-liked by the king, but someone killed him. The king was angry, and came up with a plan to find out who had killed Shu Qin. He posted a reward of 1,000 gold coins, and four people appeared to claim the reward. The king knew that all four men could not have killed Shu Qin so each man was given 250 gold coins, then the king had all four men killed. Apparently, all four men were "dumb" for admitting to the murder of Shu Qin. 173.88.246.138 22:05, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
- I'm always skeptical of etymologies that are stories. The current etymology makes perfect sense, and reminds me of rhyming slang in English: it's a way to obscure something by being indirect. Chuck Entz (talk) 22:59, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
The etymologies of chengyu (and there are thousands of them) are almost always stories. 173.88.246.138 06:28, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
- This is obviously false. Most of them were simply coined by ancient texts. You need to go study more chengyu. RcAlex36 (talk) 06:33, 3 November 2020 (UTC)