help? ren wei chai si, ....

jiazhao · Post by **jiazhao** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:03 am

Hello,

I am illiterate in Chinese. Can someone help with this:-

ren wei chai si, niu wei si (food) wang

From young, I seem to have heard it in cantonese as:-
yan wai choi sei, niu wai ZI (?) mong.
I am most likely mistaken here. I assumed that there is a word "zi" that means new born bird in classical chinese. Am I all mistaken.

Thanks
jiazhao

duaaagiii · Post by **duaaagiii** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:32 am

「人為財死，鳥為食亡。」
Mandarin: ren2 wei4 cai2 si3, niao3 wei4 shi2 wang2
Cantonese: yan4 wai6 choi4 sei2, niu5 wai6 zi6 mong4

In the Cantonese version, the character in question, 食, which is usually pronounced as sik6, is instead interpreted as a variant of 飼 (to feed humans or animals; in this case, it means animal feed) and is pronounced as zi6. The corresponding Mandarin pronunciation would be si4.

jiazhao · Post by **jiazhao** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:51 am

Many thanks,

I was bashed by my sister for giving an alternative to sik6.

jiazhao