introduction
In the final examination of the "Modern Chinese Dialects" course in the College of Letters of Wuhan University this semester, there is a topic that asks students to introduce a word with characteristics of their hometown, and starting from this issue, we will push these contents on a special topic to show the understanding and emotions of students in various departments of Wuhan University on the dialect of their hometown.
In the Wu language, to say that a person will "be a person" is to praise him for being "frugal and will live a life." In the era of material scarcity, "being a family" is a kind of wisdom of life, which reflects the older generation of Jiangnan people's thrifty and thrifty attitude and the pursuit of careful planning of quality of life.
The attitude of "being a person" is reflected in all aspects of life.
clothing
The invention of the "false collar": the false collar is a "specialty" of Shanghai in the 1970s and 1980s, it is actually just a collar, with a front placket, a back piece, a button, a button, but only retains a small half of the upper part of the underwear, worn inside the outerwear, to fake the real, the exposed collar part is exactly the same as the shirt. The beauty of a false collar is that it maintains the decency of dressing with the least amount of fabric.
"New three years, old three years, sewing and patching for another three years": When my parents were young, clothes were always worn by the father to the brother, and the brother was worn by the younger brother, a dress could be worn for many years, and if it was broken, it would be sewn and mended and then worn, even if no one could wear it, the cloth could be cut down to make a rag.
Homemade cotton shoes: In my memory, every year when winter is approaching, Grandma will buy the soles and cotton threads, and make cotton shoes for the whole family, rather than buying them outside, which not only saves money, but also makes cotton shoes that are warm and comfortable.
food
Delicious "pickled rice" and "soy sauce rice": When the older generation recalls, they often mention how delicious the previous "pickled rice" and "soy sauce bibimbap" were. The so-called "vegetable pickled rice" is actually overnight cold rice plus leftover cold vegetables, and soy sauce rice is even simpler, that is, soy sauce poured into the rice and mixed. Eating this once saves money for a meal.
Essential Shredded Pickles at Home: In Gangnam, shredded pickles are one of the classic dishes at home. This is because pickles are flavorful and stand up to eating, while shredded meat indicates meat and fishiness to improve the diet. The beauty of this dish is also that it can be eaten by the whole family, and it is not as expensive as braised pork, and it can also be used as a topping.
Live and go
Do carpentry and furniture yourself: Time goes back to decades ago, when men in the family often do more or less carpentry, some furniture, and shavings blow with the wind. Horn boxes, small kitchen cabinets, bedside tables, writing desks, sofas, that's it. In this way, if you lack any furniture, you don't need to buy it outside, you only need a saw, a screwdriver, some wood and hardware to make it.
I also have many exclusive memories of "being a person": Grandma will always buy a towel to buy a smaller one, because every time I wash my face, I can use a little less water; my grandparents can not open the air conditioner in summer and winter, and the electric light can be turned on less, so that the accumulation of time and month can save a lot of electricity; the vegetables grown in the countryside cannot be eaten, and Grandma will make pickles, so that every morning to cook porridge to order, it is a delicious breakfast.
From the above performance of "being a person", we can find that "being a person" is not the same as being stingy and cutting the door, but is actually a kind of frugal calculation that people in the era of lack of materials, which embodies the simple financial management concept of the people of Jiangnan who were once well versed in hardship and simplicity. With the development of society and the improvement of living standards, many of the behaviors of "being a family" in the past are no longer necessary today, such as the need to use false collars in order to support the façade, and the lack of furniture at home can be ordered directly on the Internet, but the thrifty and thrifty spirit of the older generation is always worthy of our learning and respect. Therefore, until now, we still praise frugal people from the bottom of our hearts, "Nong really does people!" ”
Resources:
Wang Rong,Zhang Liping. Shanghainese who can "be people"[J].Archives Spring and Autumn, 2017(02):59-62.
[2] "Being a man" is not stingy! It's a life wisdom.
About the author: Chen Wenwen, an atypical engineering turtle who loves music, loves to read and write, comes from Yangcheng Lake and now lives in East Lake.
Editor-in-Chief: Ruan Guijun
Executive Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Jiehui
Author: Chen Wenwen
Cover image: Network
Editor: Zhuang Chengzhi