Zhang Ailing: Useful people in the world are often laymen

Like our article, you may wish to follow the following way to "pin" it!

Originally published in January 1944, Monthly Magazine, Vol. 12, No. 4

Excerpted from Zhang Ailing's prose collection "Rumors"

Zhang Ailing: It must also be justified

| Zhang ailing

I myself have a vulgar name, and I know it is vulgar and do not intend to change it, but I am very interested in the name of the person.

Naming people is a light, small-scale creation. Grandfather of the old days, in the winter, rested his feet on the foot stove, smoked shisha, named his new grandson, and called him whatever he wanted. Call him a frieze, he will have to work hard to light the lintel; call him Zuyin, call him an ancestor, he will always remember his grandfather; call him Hesheng, and his life will have a little more color of the pond in June.

Few people, other than those in fiction, are truly worthy of the name, (often counterproductive, with names representing a need and a lack.) Nine out of ten poor people are called Jin Gui, Ah Fu, and Dayou. But in any case, the name is mixed with a person's appearance and character, creating a whole impression. So naming is a creation.

I like to give names to people, even though I haven't had a chance to do it yet. It seems that only parents and rural school teachers have this right. In addition to them, there are counted the old men, wives and dancers who buy the bridesmaids. It is a pity that these people are always perfunctory; because there are examples to help, the child should be called Maotou, Ermaotou, and Sanmaotou, the head of the girl should be called Ruyi, and the dancer should be called Manna.

Catholic priests and Jesuit priests also name baptized babies (presumably the most interesting part of their ministry), but they will never be able to jump out of the circle of George, Mary, and Elizabeth. I once collected two or three hundred common names of British women, and I am afraid that all of them are here, even if there are not many omissions.

How annoying it is to have to choose names from the limited folklore and religious history of the customs, so that you can meet people with the same name everywhere!

There's an old joke: A man went through the Bible and tried to find a more chic name. He triumphantly told the pastor that he had decided to use a name that no one had ever used before—Satan (the devil).

Thinking back to our Chinese, there are a whole of Wang Yun's five dictionaries for us to search for two appropriate words to represent ourselves, there is such a rich range of choices, and there are still people who are willing to call Xiuzhen and Zijing, which seems unforgivable.

The right name doesn't have to be novel, elegant, or generous, but the benefit is to create a clear mood that is just right for the identity.

I like to read classifieds and ball games, loans, small loans, and often find many ready-made good names there. For example, "Chai Fengying" and "Mao Yijian", is there anyone in this who is about to come out? Needless to say, Chai Fengying is not only a standard small family jasper, as if there is a popular story in her name. In the near future I hope I can write a novel with Chai Fengying as the protagonist.

Some people say that names are just symbols, not much meaning. There are many people who support this on paper, but they themselves still use elaborate pseudonyms. Of course, this is just human nature, who doesn't want to be a little better?

Even in the idealized world of the future, citizens are all numbered like prisoners, with no other name than numbers, and each number word is still inseparable from its unique charm. Three and seven are handsome, and two are honest. In Zhang Hexhui's "Qin Huai Shijia", the naughty girl is called Xiao Chun, and Er Chun is her sister of Pu Ne. In "Deep in the Night", there is also the loyal Ding Erhe and the wishing Tian Er girl.

The symbol movement, though not entirely pursued, is a rationalized response, because the names of Chinese are too complex. As soon as the ground has a milk name. In the past, people's milk names were quite elaborate, and they did not use "囡囡" and "baby" to prevaricate as they do now.

Breast name is the only name of most women, because if they do not go to school, they do not need a grand "scientific name", and after they get married, they simply lose their own existence and become "Zhang Men Li". Everything about women is a bit secret, so the woman's name is not easy to tell people.

In the poems of Xiang Xiang, we can see that the newlywed husband's nickname of his wife in front of people is considered to be very abrupt and is bound to arouse her pampering.

The boy's scientific name, Gong Kai, was written on the scrolls of Kaimeng, and after becoming an official, it was called "official seal", and only the prince and the master could call. He also has a more free "word" for friends and relatives of his peers. He also has a spare nickname. As for the other number, it is even more unrestricted. When you buy a proud antique, change the name of the antique and embed the name of the antique. Move a house, and change the number. Pick up a female drama and change the nickname.

Originally, if the name represents a state of mind, why can't the name be transferred to the changing mood at any time?

In "The Legend of the Children's Heroes", An Gongzi has a "Big Grandma of east house" and a "big grandmother of west house". He inscribed a plaque for the East House called "Petal Incense Room", and the West House was the "Incense Room". He signed his own name as "Companion Flap Master". When Old Master An saw it, he was greatly displeased, thinking that there was a suspicion of wind and snow and playthings.

Reading this paragraph, most of us are indignant, thinking that the tyranny of the old family is really all-pervasive, the son takes a harmless nickname, and the father must interfere, not to mention that the fate of this nickname is at best to appreciate his wife, not to mention that these two wives are married to him by his father!

However, from another point of view, I still sympathize with Mr. Ann. After all, taking more nicknames is almost boring.

If we are engaged in fundamental analysis, why should a person have several names? Because one person is multifaceted. The same person, in the eyes of his parents, is completely different from the one seen by the west cub in the office--different status, different distance.

Some people like to be full of mirrors on the four walls and ceiling, and they look at themselves from different angles at all times. Taking more names is the same expansion of the self.

The expansion of the self like this is not hindered by others, so why use it for self-amusement? Although it is a spiritual waste, we Chinese have always been inclined to the beauty of the cost.

But if we want the outside world to be interested in our names, that's another thing. Maybe we think that when a reader sees our latest pseudonym, he will say: "Oh, Ram Huan, he used the name of Zang Sun Mantis when he published his debut novel, and when he submitted articles in ×× magazine, his name was Mu Ti, also known as Bai Bo, also called Mu Lian, Sakura Yuan was also him, and some people said that Broken Dai was also him." In the ×× newspaper, his name was Dongfang Xian, and when he was compiling women's publications, he temporarily became feminine and changed his name to Lin Yanchan , also known as Lady Jie. ”

Any big man who wants people to remember all this is still hoping for luxury, let alone a literati?

A man, doing his part, gets a little attention from his share. In less than ten years and eight years, he has done what he has to do, or he can't do it, and he is forgotten. The memory of society is not very strong, that is also a matter of course, no one has the right to complain. ...... There are so many things that everyone should remember and can't remember!

When I was in school, there were as many people with the same name as me, and no one thought our names were funny or low-level fun. Mr. China called me by name and had never read the white characters; Mr. Foreign felt extremely difficult to read names such as "Wu Wanyun", and his tongue seemed to be rolled up and tied with a bow, but when he read my name, he was immediately catchy. This is a very compassionate thing.

Now I'm starting to feel like I should be upset with my name. Why not pick two more beautiful and deep words, even if you can't borrow a little beauty and depth from it, at least the manuscript will not give the reader a bad initial impression?

As if someone had said that the first step in the art of ascending the dragon in the literary world was to take a name that was shocking to the eye. Is it really "the name is not right, the words are not smooth, and the words are not smooth"?

China is a country of words. When the emperor encountered something unpleasant, he changed his yuan and hoped that the fortunes of the country would gradually improve next year. Originally, it was the twelfth year of Yuan Wu, but it was renamed daqing first year, and the unfortunate days of the past came to an end. Excessive trust in words is characteristic of us.

Everything in China is too nice to listen to, too smooth to talk. Of course, if you don't listen to it, if you don't look at it, you don't necessarily use it; but the useful people in the world are often laymen. I am willing to keep my impatient name, to serve as a warning to myself, to try to get rid of the habit of the average literate person to chew on words, and to find the actual life in the wood, the oil, salt, the soap, the water and the sun.

Then again. To be a layman, start with a cheesy name, still "word worship". Maybe I'm just making excuses. The reason why I am obsessed with my name is because of the memory of the name.

When I was ten years old, my mother advocated sending me to school for my sake, and my father repeatedly made a big fuss, and in the end my mother sent me like a human trafficker. When filling out the admission certificate, she hesitated for a moment and did not know what name to fill in.

My little name is 煐, and the two words of Zhang Xuan are buzzing, not very loud. She held her head and thought for a while, then said, "Let's translate the English name into two words for the time being." ”

She has been planning to change for me and has not changed, but now, I am not willing to change.

END