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“Despite being widely attributed as a Chinese curse, there is no known equivalent expression in Chinese.[2] The nearest related Chinese expression translates as
by techer 6y ago
“Despite being widely attributed as a Chinese curse, there is no known equivalent expression in Chinese.[2] The nearest related Chinese expression translates as "Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos." (寧為太平犬，不做亂世人)”
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- danbolt 6y agoIt looks like the symbols for dog (犬) and person (人) are at end of each verse. I can't speak Chinese, but I'd imagine the line rings well hearing the ordering of subject/object/verb like that.
- justinnhli 6y agoThere are more constraints than that - the corresponding words in each phrase are also the same parts of speech, and are often read with a specific cadence. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithetical_couplet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithetical_couplet
- soared 6y agoI might argue it’s always better to be a dog.
- CamperBob2 6y agoAs a human, one should strive to be the owner of such a fortunate dog. I don't think I'd want to swap places with most dogs, personally.