[largonioulurI]

This passage is taken from Ven. S Dhammika's book "Good Questions, Good Answers"

Imagine an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Chinese and an Indonesian all looking at a cup.
The Englishman says, "That is a cup." The Frenchman answers, "No it's not. It's a tasse."
The Chinese comments, "You are both wrong. It's a pei."
And the Indonesian laughs at the others and says "What a fool you are. It's a cawan."

The Englishman get a dictionary and shows it to the others saying, "I can prove that it is a cup.
My dictionary says so." "Then your dictionary is wrong," says the Frenchman "because my dictionary clearly says it is a tasse."
The Chinese scoffs at them. "My dictionary is thousands of years older than yours, so my dictionary must be right.
And besides, more people speak Chinese than any other language, so it must be pei."

While they are squabbling and arguing with each other, a Buddhist comes up and drinks from the cup.
After he has drunk, he says to the others, "Whether you call it a cup, a tasse, a pei or a cawan, the purpose of the cup is to be used.
Stop arguing and drink, stop squabbling and refresh your thirst".