All true language is incomprehensible,
like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.

-Antonin Artaud

6.11.2011

A poem for (Mandarin) tones lovers

《施氏食獅史》

石室诗士施氏,嗜狮,誓食十狮。
氏时时适市视狮。
十时,适十狮适市。
是时,适施氏适市。
氏视是十狮,恃矢势,使是十狮逝世。
氏拾是十狮尸,适石室。
石室湿,氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭,氏始试食是十狮尸。
食时,始识是十狮,实十石狮尸。
试释是事。




Warning: This piece may damage your vision, and make you sound like a lisper temporary.


« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »


Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.


Thank you for your effort, and you deserve the translation:



« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.



The poem , consists of 92 characters with 1 sound in 4 tones, was written by Chao Yuen Ren, a Chinese American linguist, to against the idea of replacing classical Chinese characters with romanization. The poem is almost impossible to understand by romanization but characters.


I hope you had a good time there.

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