Over-interpretation

By Wang Chonglyu

Once I read online a conversation between author Li Ao and his son Li Kan:

Father: Go buy me a soda.

Son: Coke or Sprite?

Father: Coke.

Son: Can or bottle?

Father: Bottle.

Son: Sugar-free or regular?

Father: Regular.

Son: 500ml or 1000ml?

Father: You’re so annoying, forget it! Just get me some water.

Son: Mineral or filtered?

Father: Mineral.

Son: Iced or room temperature?

Father: (Angry) If you keep this up, see that I don’t take a broom to you.

Son: Plastic or bamboo?

Father: You filthy creature!

Son: Pig or ox?

Father: (Panting) I’ll…I’m going to spit blood in anger because of you…blood!

Son: Should I grab the garbage can or carry you to the bathroom?

公孫龍（前320年－前250年），中國古代邏輯學家，名家代表人物，以“白馬非馬”論名聞天下。Gongsun Long (320-250 BC) was a logician in ancient China and a representative figure of the School of Names. Gongsun Long is famous for the discourse in which he discusses why “a white horse is not a horse.”

Father: Let me die!

Son: Buried or cremated?

Father: The cuss? You’re really trying to kill me, aren’t you?

Something that is originally very simple becomes unexpectedly the butt of a joke sometimes, because of constant inquiry trying to get to the root of matters.

This reminded me of an anecdote that Mr. Feng Youlan, a Chinese philosopher, once told.

One day, Logician Gongsun Long was about to travel and he asked one of his pupils to pull a horse for him. His pupil went but returned empty-handed, saying, “There are no horses in the stables, apart from a white horse.”

Gongsun Long asked him to lead the white horse out.

After a while the pupil returned again, reporting, “There’s no white horse anymore, there is only a skinny white horse.”

Gongsun Long, increasingly impatient, said, “Moron! Bring the skinny white horse out then.”

過度闡釋

文/王充閭

從網上看到作家李敖和兒子李戡的一段對話——

父：你去買瓶汽水。

子：是可樂還是雪碧？

父：可樂。

子：鐵罐的還是瓶裝的？

父：瓶裝的。

子：沒糖的還是普通的？

父：普通的。

子：500毫升的還是1000毫升的？

父：你好煩！算了，水就可以啦。

子：礦泉水還是過濾水？

父：礦泉水。

子：冰的還是不冰的？

父：（生氣了）你再啰唆，看我拿掃帚打你。

子：是拿塑膠的，還是竹子的？

父：你這個畜生！

子：像豬還是像牛？

父：（氣喘）我……我會被你……你氣得吐血……血啦！

子：要拿垃圾桶，還是扶你到廁所？

父：我死了算了。

子：你要土葬，還是火葬？

父：他媽的！你是存心氣死老爹了……

原本是十分簡單的事，由于一味地尋根究底，最后竟鬧出了一場笑話。

這使我聯想到馮友蘭先生講的一個趣事——

有一天，公孫龍要出門旅行，叫弟子去牽馬。弟子去了，結果空手而回，說：“先生，馬廄里沒有馬，只有白馬。”

公孫龍就讓他把白馬牽來。

隔了一會兒，弟子又來匯報：“白馬也沒了，只有瘦白馬。”

公孫龍非常不耐煩地說：“呆子！那就牽瘦白馬來。”

可是，死心眼兒的弟子還是沒領會，又來報告：“師父，我只看見一匹瘸腿的瘦白馬。”

公孫龍火了，揪住弟子的耳朵來到馬廄，指著馬說：“就是這匹馬，你要認清了！”

其實，這并不是弟子呆，而是公孫龍自討尷尬，他把名詞慷慨地贈與共相世界，而留給實際世界的，只剩下可憐的指示代詞“這”和“那”了。偏偏遇上這個“老實巴交”的聽話弟子，忠實地按照他的指示辦事，最后陷入過度闡釋的窘境。

這種過度索解的事例，我碰上過一次。

一年，在遼寧電視臺文藝晚會上，省內的知名人士紛紛到會，堪稱“名流薈萃，冠蓋如云”，正在沈陽演出的京劇表演藝術家李勝素女士也應邀出席了。

節目進行過程中，慣于接茬兒、逗趣兒、說廢話的主持人一時雅興大發，出人意料地即興提出一個有趣的問題：“請各位嘉賓分析、解答：李勝素女士的名字——‘勝素’二字有什么含義？”

主持人話音一落，坐在前兩排的幾位名流當即舉手響應。

一位從事藝術教學的老師說：“‘素’者，質樸、素雅之謂也，不施粉黛，明慧天成，達到了美的極致；‘勝素’，就是取勝之道，在于抱樸守素。”

一位專門從事國學研究的學者站起來講：“這個‘素’可大有講究。一是純白，純白的質地上施以彩繪，叫作‘素以為絢’，這是見諸《論語》的；二是屬于根本性質的事物，比如質素、元素；三是安于現在，《中庸》里說：‘君子素其位而行。’朱熹解釋說，安于現在所居之位，為其所當為。‘勝素’則表明，不能安于現狀，必須積極進取。”

But, his stubborn pupil still didn’t get the point. He came back again, reporting, “Master, I only see a crippled, skinny white horse.”

Gongsun Long became agitated. He grabbed the pupil by the ear and led him to the stables. Pointing at the horse, he said, “It is this horse. You get it!”

It is not that his pupil was actually stupid but that Gongsun Long was asking to get himself embarrassed. He generously bestowed all of his nouns to the world of universality while saving pitiable pronouns like “this” and “that” for the actual concrete world. It was just that he happened to meet an honest, obedient pupil who loyally carried out his orders. In the end he fell into the plight of overinterpretation.

I too have encountered an instance of over-explanation. One year, on Liaoning TV’s Evening Gala, celebrities came from all over the country. It was a “gathering of high officials and distinguished guests.” Ms. Li Shengsu, a Peking Opera artist who was currently performing in Shenyang, was invited to the party. One of the presenters who was good at chiming in, getting a laugh and talking nonsense, unexpectedly asked an interesting question: “I invite all our honored guests to analyze and explain: Ms. Li Shengsu’s name. What is the meaning of her name Shengsu?”

As soon as the host finished speaking, a number of attendees in the front rows raised their hands to answer the question.

An art teacher said, “Su is unaffected, simple but elegant. Without the application of cosmetics but with natural intelligence that reaches the pinnacle of beauty. Shengsu means a victory in life, staying true to one’s nature and maintaining one’s aspirations.”

A scholar who specializes in Chinese traditional culture stood up and began speaking, “Chinese character Su has many connotations. The first is that it stands for purity, which resembles the colorful paint on a white texture, ‘the plain property for the colors,’ as it is put in The Analects. Secondly, it is the fundamental essence of any objects; that is why it can be found in words like zhisu (meaing quality) and yuansu (meaning element). Thirdly, it means the contentment with the present situation. The Golden Mean states, ‘The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is.’ Zhu Xi’s commentary states that this means being content with your current position in life and doing the things that you ought to do.” This is to say, Shengsu means being discontent with the status quo and desiring to, instead, be proactive.”

A young female writer spoke rather quickly, “Su, can be understood as clean and plain. Eileen Chang said, ‘The drawback of aestheticism is not in its beauty, but in that its beauty doesn’t have any backdrop.’ ‘Only from describing modern people’s resourcefulness and decoration can I set off the plainness of life.’‘I use the plainness and security in life as a backdrop to describe life’s jubilance. Without this background, life’s radiance is nothing but suds. Many strong works of art only bring excitement to people, but not enlightenment. Failure comes from being unable to master the use of this type of backdrop.’ This ‘simple backdrop’ is constituted from the scrapes and scratches of everyday life. It is the unique appeal of Eileen Chang’s writings. The name Shengsu is showing reverence for this kind of ‘plainness,’ exuding this philosophy and pursuit for life.”

There were still people with raised hands but the host made a gesture to stop. He probably figured out that they had already gotten as much depth out of analyzing her name as they possibly could. He respectfully walked over to Ms. Li Shengsu and asked, “Please, give us an interpretation of your name. Which great artist gave you such a profound and refined name?”

一位年輕的女作家以頗快的語速講：“素，可以理解為‘樸素的底子’。張愛玲說：‘唯美派的缺點不在于它的美，而在于它的美沒有底子。’‘我只能從描寫現代人機智與裝飾中去襯出人生樸素的底子。’‘以人生的安穩做底子來描寫人生的飛揚。沒有這底子，飛揚只能是浮沫。許多強有力的作品只能予人以興奮，不能予人以啟示，就是失敗在不知道把握這底子。’這‘樸素的底子’就是日常生活的痕跡，就是張愛玲文字中的獨特韻味。‘勝素’就是崇尚這種‘樸素的底子’，體現了一種生命哲學、人生追求。”

臺下仍然有人舉手，但主持人做了一個“停止”的手勢，他可能覺得分析的深度夠了，便恭敬地走到李勝素女士面前，說：“請您自己談談對名字的認識，是哪位藝術大家給您起了這么一個高深、儒雅的名字？”

只見李女士站起身來，謙虛而嫻雅地給觀眾鞠個躬，說：“感謝各位對我的高看。其實，我的名字沒有那么多的講究。我是河北柏鄉人，在我們老家那里，女孩小名都帶個‘小’字。我出生之后，奶奶抱起來看看，說：‘長得很素氣，就叫小素子吧。’我奶奶一個大字不識，她哪里懂得那么多學問。”

一番話鬧得全場嘩然，熱烈的掌聲倒使幾位考據家和名師倍感難堪。

（摘自《秋窗漫筆》萬卷出版公司）

Ms. Li stood up,elegantly and modestly bowed to the audience, saying, “I would like to thank everyone for thinking so highly of me. To tell you the truth, there isn’t much sophistication to my name. I’m from Baixiang County in Hebei where all the girls’ nicknames must have the character ‘little.’ After I was born, my grandma held me and said, ‘She’s a neat-looking girl. Let’s just call her Little Su then.’ My grandma was illiterate, how could she be that educated?”

The whole place was in a commotion which was soon followed by warm applause, leaving those critics and celebrities feeling greatly embarrassed.

(From Notes by the Autumn Window, Volumes Publishing Company. Translation: Sam Bowden)