Chapter 75 Human words

Human words People who have stayed in Peiping should understand the word "human language".Small businessmen, rickshaw drivers, etc. get angry with each other, and often ask such words: Do you understand people's language? — or say: Can you speak human language? This is a very serious sentence. It doesn't mean to ask the person opposite if he understands human language or can speak human language. It means to scold him for not understanding human language and not being able to speak human language.If you don't understand human language, you can't speak human language, you are just a beast!This is called swearing around the corner, and it is also called swearing without dirty words.No swear words means no swear words, but it is "swearing", so noble people don't use this word.When they are angry, they will also say "not human", "unlike human", "not human", "unreasonable", "not reasonable", etc., but they just refuse to use the word "human". "Unreasonable" and "unreasonable" mean unreasonable; "not human", "unlike human", "not human" is not a beast?Compared with "do not understand human language" or "do not speak human language", it is less of a turn.But noble people only say those things behind people's backs, and they probably don't say them in front of people.This sounds like a low-tempered, light-hearted tone. When you get used to it, you will feel that the words "not human", "not human", and "not human" are more refined, not as wild as "human words".In fact, literally speaking, "human words" is an implicit word.

People in Peiping pay attention to rules, and when they say rules, they mean politeness.When we walked into a larger shop, there was always a clerk who came out to entertain and said, "You are here!" When we came out, another clerk saw off the customers, and said, "You are leaving, don't sit down Huh?" That's the rule.The rickshaw driver always said, "How is your father? How is your old lady?" "Where does your young master go to school?" He never said "your father", "your mother" or "your son", but never It is also a rule to say "father", "lingtang" and "gongzi".Some people think that these are hypocrisy, hypocrisy, innocence, and unnaturalness.They say that the people of Peking have official air, and they say these are the proofs.But innocence is not easy to express, and sometimes it is inconvenient to express.Only in front of the closest people can there be a chance to show innocence, besides, innocence is sometimes willful and not necessarily cute.So you have to be disciplined.The rules are to regulate innocence, that is, "rituals", the first "rituals" of the four dimensions.Etiquette needs to be adjusted, and it has to be a little artificial to be true, but it cannot be said to be false.Adjustment and artificiality are for neutralization, balance, and naturalness—here is the so-called "habit becomes nature".Whether it is rules or etiquette, it is nothing more than teaching people the principles of life.We have been to many big cities now, and looking back on Beiping, it seems that it is not bad to pay attention to the rules, at least we have avoided many hard nails.Paying attention to rules is politeness and popularity, and the set of words that people in Peiping like to say are what they call "human words".

People in other places don't use the word "human language", they only talk about reasoning and not reasoning, which is common to both refined and common people.To be reasonable is to be rational, to be reasonable.The so-called "rationality" (this is an old noun, the word "li" is re-pronounced, and the translated term "reasonable", the word "sex" is re-pronounced) is naturally human reason, and the so-called reason is the principle of being a human being.People like to talk about "reasonable" nowadays, and the meaning of "reasonable" is much broader than the "reasonable" in "reasonable". "Reasonable" is of course "reasonable", this is common sense, and it seems that there is no need to check out Aristotle's big hat, saying that "man is a rational animal".But this sentence is still useful. If "reasonable" is a "rational animal", isn't it "human language"?However, an unreasonable person is still an unreasonable person, and does not understand the meaning contained in "do not understand human language" and "cannot speak human language".Reasoning does not necessarily mean peace, and Shanghai's "tea lectures" are often shocking.But literally, "Are you reasonable or not?" is indeed more peaceful than "Do you understand human language?" "Can you speak human language?" "Unreasonable" is more of a turn than "doesn't understand human language" or "can't speak human language", and it won't affect personality.The so-called principle of being a human probably refers to the way of forgiveness, which is what Confucius said, "Do not do to others what you do not want yourself to do to yourself."And what the "human words" want is forgiveness.Ordinarily, the word "li" is actually a bit gray, not as bright as the word "human words", and now some people may feel that such a bright word is still needed.However, small businessmen, rickshaw drivers, etc. have used it too clearly, so vividly that they spoil it, which is really a pity.

Made on May 25, 1943. (Originally published in Kunming Daminbao in June 1943