CHINESE PUZZLEDOM 145 



country by the name we have given it. Lacking a positively 

 conclusive explanation on this point, the matter perforce 

 remains a puzzle. Or, seeing that very few of us are here 

 for the benefit of our health, how many of us know why 

 Chinese silver is called Sycee? I have tried to find out the 

 reason, but in vain. We are told that sai-si is the Cantonese 

 for "fine silk," and that this name is given to silver because 

 when it is pure, under the application of heat, it can be drawn 

 into fine silk-like threads. This information, though coming 

 from a good source, cannot be accepted without question, 

 for it applies equally to gold and other metals. I am more 

 disposed to agree with the joker who said : 



"Some ask me what the cause may be 

 That Chinese silver's called Sycee. 

 It's probable they call it so 

 Because they sigh to see it go." 

 The Chinese from half-a-dozen provinces whom I have 

 •consulted on the etymology of this mystic word are un- 

 animously agreed that it is English. 



Leaving aside these trivial considerations we find 

 that the language is full of linguistic puzzles; it is 

 certainly cast in so plastic a mould that it lends itself 

 readily to all manner of puzzling and surprising effects. 

 An occidental, — unless he has mastered the "tones," that 

 frightful nightmare of all students, and is able to distinguish 

 with a fair degree of accuracy, the "upper" from the "lower" 

 among the even tones, and the "rising" from the "sinking" 

 among the oblique or deflective tones, to> say nothing of the 

 ' ' entering, ' ' and the " surds ' ' and ' ' sonants , ' ' — will un- 

 consciously make so many puns in a sentence that he will 

 find himself, to the merriment of his hearers, involuntarily 

 discoursing on some other subject than the one he intended. 

 By modulating one's intonation according to the formula 

 given in certain text-books, will only make matters worse; 

 and by having recourse to a few utterances of the onomato- 

 poetic kind, or playing off a little pantomime, one runs the 

 risk of being looked upon as a raving lunatic at large. 

 Confucius said, "In language it is simply required that it 

 convey the meaning." Unfortunately, the Chinese langu- 

 age, at its best, does not invariably do this; very often it 

 conceals the meaning, which shows it cannot always be 

 taken at face value. 



I have been told of a foreigner, who in the early days 

 of the Republic, once asked his stable-boy what he had' 

 done with his riding whip. "Ni ti pien tzu tsai na 'rh?" 

 enquired the foreigner. The stable-boy, with an artlessness 

 not common in his genus, and rubbing the back of his head, 

 10 



