Sunday, June 17, 2007

Some Things I Never Understood

There are many things that are weaved into the fabric of our permanent memory, but among them there are certain things that we never bothered to understand.

One of them is this nursery rhyme: [Update: listen to it here]

青蛙跳下水

一只青蛙一张嘴
两只眼睛四条腿
乒乓乒乓跳下水
青蛙不吃水 太平年
青蛙不吃水 太平年

二只青蛙二张嘴
四只眼睛八条腿
乒乓乒乓跳下水
青蛙不吃水 太平年
青蛙不吃水 太平年

青蛙向水里跳
洗个痛快澡
Or, in English:
Frogs Jumping into the Water

One frog, one mouth
Two eyes, four legs,
Off they jump into the water
Frogs don't eat water, peaceful year.
Frogs don't eat water, peaceful year.

Two frog, two mouth
Four eyes, eight legs,
Off they jump into the water
Frogs don't eat water, peaceful year.
Frogs don't eat water, peaceful year.

Frogs jump into the water,
have a great bath.
What the hell is 太平年 doing in this song?

6 comments:

Jia Hui said...

Wow, I've never thought of that. It's like implying it's a peaceful year because frog doesn't eat water.

And did you know? The 'two tigers' is sang in brunei as 'three tigers' but the lyrics are the same except for the number.

Weird.

nh said...

Yeah. Maybe it's a blessing frogs don't eat/drink water so we do not end up in drought. (Not that we have many frogs anyway.) LOL.

Eric said...

Never heard of this rhyme when I was young. Mind singing it and posting a video of it for educational purposes? :p

Anonymous said...

Aidee, if frog eats water then is no good lah...

day-dreamer said...

Omg... Eric has never heard of this Chinese "nursery rhyme"?? :D

Well, since you've mentioned it, it got me wondering too. 太平年?? Hmm... maybe the lyricist couldn't think of a suitable 3-word phrase to end the song and he/she just injected 太平年 to it? LOL!

changyang1230 said...

jia hui: The three tiger thing is really interesting. :)

sophisticatedsoul: Haha good theory eh!

eric fu: Haha I guess it's from my primary school kuahh...

anonymous: Why is it not good when frog eats water wor?

day-dreamer: Haha it's supposed to be a metaphor about politics or something, I read.