Clocks: In Chinese, to send a clock as a gift is phonetically similar to GOING TO A FUNDERAL.Ĥ. A man who wears a green hat is one who is being cuckolded.ģ. Green Hats: This is especially true for men. White Hair Accessories or Pins: Often a white accessory is worn in the hair or pined on a shirt to express the death of a loved one.Ģ. Either way, these are traditional rules of thumb that you should follow if the opportunity should arise.ġ. The younger generations are also less sensitive to these rules however, some of these old school ways are so heavily ingrained in the culture that they are unconsciously observed. There are always exceptions to theses rules, maybe your friend is an avid clock collector, or is a hatless fan of the Green Bay Packers. So the following are just a few observances to keep in mind when selecting a gift for a Chinese recipient. This homonymic pair works in Cantonese and Mandarin, with the avoidance especially common in Cantonese-speaking areas.Do you want your gifts to be accepted with an exuberant hug or an awkward smile? You know the look: the wrinkling of the nose, the Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ oh well, they didn’t know any better’ chuckle? When your gift touches on a cultural faux pas, you can’t take it back. This bad luck does not apply to carrying or reading newspapers traditional Chinese: 帶報, 看報 simplified Chinese: 报纸 pinyin: bàozhǐ are not books. BooksĪs a book traditional Chinese: 書 simplified Chinese: 输 pinyin: shū in many areas, carrying or looking at a book traditional Chinese: 帶書, 看書 simplified Chinese: 带输, 看输 pinyin: dài shū, kàn shū. Cantonese has a more idiomatic term for umbrellas "ze1" in Cantonese, 遮 to avoid precisely this association. These homonymic pairs make in Mandarin and Cantonese. It is undesirable to administer someone a traditional Chinese: 傘 sound like the word "sǎn/sàn" 散, meaning to scatter, or to component company, to separate, to break up with someone, to split. However, should such a gift be given, the "unluckiness" of the gift can be countered by exacting a small monetary payment so the recipient is buying the clock and thereby counteracting the '送' "to gift" expression of the phrase. That being said, this taboo does non apply to smaller items such as watches, as they are non called " zhōng" in most parts of China, unlike clocks and large bells watches are commonly given as gifts in China. This homonymic pair workings in almost all varieties of Chinese, as the words for "clock" and "end" came to be pronounced identically very early in mainstream Chinese varieties, by around 11th century. Cantonese people consider such a gift as a curse. A UK government official Susan Kramer shown a watch to Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je unaware of such a taboo which resulted in some a grown-up engaged or qualified in a profession.
Giving a clock 送鐘/送钟, sòng zhōng is often taboo, especially to the elderly as the term for this act is a homophone with the term for the act of attending another's funeral, "to send off for one's end" 送終/送终, sòngzhōng. Although these might be regarded as superstitions by people from other cultures, these customs are often tied to religious traditions and are an important factor of numerous people's belief systems, even among well-educated people and affluent sectors of society. However, most homonymic pairs listed construct only in some varieties of Chinese for example, Mandarin only or Cantonese only, as alive as maybewildering even to speakers of other varieties of Chinese.Ĭertain customs regarding service in addition to bad luck are important to many Chinese people. While originating in Greater China, they may also apply to Chinese-speaking people around the world. faux pas are derived from homonyms in Mandarin as well as Cantonese.
Faux pas derived from Chinese pronunciation
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