[welihiedginly]

Ever wonder why Chinese names are so abbreviated? (Ho, Chan, Chin, Yin, Hung etc)

Once upon a time in faraway China there lived two brothers, one named Sam, and one named Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako.

Now one day the two brothers were playing near the well in their garden when Sam fell into the well, and Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako ran to his mother, shouting, "Quick, Sam has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"What?" cried the mother, "Sam has fallen into the well? Run and tell father!"

Together they ran to the father and cried, "Quick, Sam has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"Sam has fallen into the well?" cried the father. "Run and tell the gardner!"

Then they all ran to the gardner and shouted, "Quick, Sam has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"Sam has fallen into the well?" cried the gardner, and then he quickly fetched a ladder and pulled the poor boy from the well, who was wet and cold and frightened, and ever so happy to still be alive.

Some time afterward the two brothers were again playing near the well, and this time Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako fell into the well, and Sam ran to his mother, shouting, "Quick, Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"What?" cried the mother, "Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well? Run and tell father!"

Together they ran to the father and cried, "Quick, Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well?" cried the father. "Run and tell the gardner!"

Then they all ran to the gardner and shouted, "Quick, Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well. What shall we do?"

"Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako has fallen into the well?" cried the gardner, and then he quickly fetched a ladder and pulled Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako from the well, but the poor boy had been in the water so long that he had drowned.

And from that time forth, the Chinese have given their children short names.

[DoctoBuntonTen]

sad story ..

[hoarrimilsora]

sad story ..

That was one of my favorite stories when I was a kid. Never occurred to me it was supposed to be sad.

[stunnyravytal]

That was one of my favorite stories when I was a kid. Never occurred to me it was supposed to be sad.

Im an emotional person

[Inonanialry]

We are all aware that this is not a real story, nor even a Chinese legend, right?

[Anteneprorid]

We are all aware that this is not a real story, nor even a Chinese legend, right?

Educate us, dear Loxias, it's not even a Chinese story??

[wgX44EEn]

Educate us, dear Loxias, it's not even a Chinese story??

Quite obviously not.

Chinese names work the following way :
-Surname is almost always one syllable, which is written as one chinese character, the most common surnames are � (L�/Lee)*, 王 (Wáng/Wong), 張 (Zh�ng/Cheung), 劉 (Liú/Lau), 陳 (Chén/Chan), 楊 (Yáng/Yeung)... The characters usually also have one or several other meanings (王 = King, � = plum...).
-Forename usually consists of two syllables (two characters), but can sometimes be one or three syllables/characters. And is selected for its meaning (there is a very wide range of Chinese forenames, and you can make new ones based on whatever characters you wish to combine, although some stuff might end up being unbearable), it is always given after the surname, think of the following famous exemples (surname forename possibe forename translation):

• Máo ZédÅ�ng 毛泽东 "Grace of the East"
• Wong Kar-Wai 王家衛 "Home Protector"
• Yáo MÃ*ng 姚明 "Light"
• LÇ� XiÇŽolóng æ�Žå°�é¾� "Little Dragon" (was Bruce Lee's stage name in China)

The fact that the names are so short derives from the fact that Chinese "word units" (as represented by the Chinese character/ideogram they are associated to) are monosyllabic (consisting of an onset a tone and a rhyme, in the way they are constructed).


*the reading goes (Mandarin/Cantonese)

[Siliespiriulk]

Loxias, you are most awesome. Thanks for adding a bit of intellectualism to the thread.



Also, in some versions, Tikki Tikki Tembo doesn't drown. But I feel that the story loses its meaning if he doesn't.

[HawksBurnDown]

Also, while Sam can be a Chinese name (Cantonese reading of 三, meaning "three" among many other characters of the same pronunciation). "Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako" is very unChinese.
We can cut it down to :
Tikki = Finnish
Tembo no Sarimbo = Meaningless Japanese (展望�差�肪????)
Hari Kari = Malay (Day of Curry!)
Bushkie Perry = Looks English to me
Do Hai Kai = Odd Japanese (�俳諧 = way poem??)
and so on...