Sesame blossoms are getting higher and higher. Fifteen buckets of water-seven ups and eight downs. Monks in Zhang Er-all at a loss, and so on.

Two-part allegorical saying is a unique language full of wisdom and interest in China, and it is also a grammar that people like to use.

Two-part allegorical saying is a special language form created by people in their life practice. Generally, it consists of two parts, the first part is an image metaphor, like a riddle, and the second part is an explanation and explanation, like a riddle, which is very natural and appropriate.

For example:

It takes two hands to fight-

Foot-binding of a lazy woman.

In common language. Usually, as long as you say the first half sentence and rest the second half sentence, you can understand and guess its original meaning, so it is called two-part allegorical saying.

The name "Xiehouyu" first appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Old Tang books. As mentioned in the Biography of Gui Zheng, there is a so-called poem "After thanking the government for five times" (a kind of "after thanking" poem). However, as a language form and expression, it appeared as early as the pre-Qin period. For example, the warring States policy. Chu Ce IV: "It's not too late to mend." It means it's not too late to mend the sheepfold after losing the sheep. This is the earliest two-part allegorical saying we saw today.

We have reason to believe that this is a popular saying among the people at that time, which is based on the life experience of ordinary people. Although this kind of ancient two-part allegorical saying is rare in written records, it is believed that there are many people. For example, Qian Daxin's "Heng Yan Lu" said: "It is also a proverb in the Song Dynasty to send goose feathers a thousand miles away." This kind of two-part allegorical saying has been used to this day.

Some linguists and linguistic monographs will mention other related names when studying the origin of two-part allegorical sayings. For example, in The Origin of Rhetoric, Chen Wangdao introduced two-part allegorical sayings in the section of Tibetan dialect; In the study of proverbs, Guo Shaoyu pointed out that two-part allegorical sayings originated from "echo" (a form similar to guessing); Other books list names such as argot, riddle, proverb, shrinking feet and one-liners. By comparison, most of them reveal some similarities and differences. There is no definite theory about the classification of two-part allegorical sayings. Besides, there are many two-part allegorical sayings, all of which have several properties, so it is difficult to divide them scientifically. For the convenience of reference, we classify all the entries with homophonic words into one category, and the rest are divided into three categories according to the nature of figurative parts.

First, homophonic. For example:

Empty coffin burial-

Onion mixed with tofu-

This kind of two-part allegorical saying is homophonic with homophones or near homophones, which leads to another meaning from the original meaning. This kind of two-part allegorical saying often takes many twists and turns to understand its meaning. So it is more interesting.

Second, metaphor. For example:

Moving wood in an alley-

Cold water dough-

This kind of two-part allegorical saying is a metaphor for real or imaginary things. If you understand the characteristics and circumstances of the comparison, you can naturally understand the second half of the mystery.

Third, metaphor. For example:

Ants after autumn-

Chess pieces on the chessboard-

This kind of two-part allegorical saying takes one or some objects as an example. Understand the essence of analogy, and you can understand its meaning.

Fourth, the story. such as

Chu overlord holds the tripod-

Cao Cao eats chicken ribs-

This kind of xiehouyu generally refers to common allusions, fables, myths and legends. As long as you know the stories of Xiang Yu and Cao Cao, you can get a general understanding of the above two situations.

In the case of cross-category, it is classified as a category with more obvious characteristics. such as

Paper pipa-

This two-part allegorical saying is both metaphor and homophonic, and now it is classified as homophonic.

Two-part allegorical sayings have distinctive national characteristics, rich flavor of life, interesting humor and are deeply loved by the masses.