NationStates Jolt Archive

Here is a Chinese poem which is extremely odd. The words in the poem all have different meanings but all 92 words are pronounced the same way (there are tonal differences but we can ignore that for now).


In Chinese characters:

施氏食獅史

石室詩士施氏, 嗜獅, 誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時, 適十獅適市。
是時, 適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅, 恃矢勢, 使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍, 適石室。
石室濕, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始試食是十獅。
食時, 始識是十獅, 實十石獅屍。
試釋是事。

In case your browser doesn't show Chinese characters, here is the poem as an image

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/shishi.gif

How to pronounce it:

Shi shi shi shi shi

Shi shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi, shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi.

A translation:

The Lion-eating Poet in the Stone Den

A poet by the name of Shih Shih living in a stone den was fond of lions.
As he had taken an oath to eat ten lions,
he went out to the market every day at ten o'clock in order to look for lions.
It was at the time when all of a sudden ten lions came to the market
and also Shih Shih went to the market at once realizing these ten lions.
Relying on his (bow and) arrows, he caused these ten lions to pass away.
Shih picked up the corpses of these ten lions,
and as he went to the stone den, the stone chamber was damp.
Shih had the stone den wiped by his servant.
As the stone den was cleaned,
it was the time that Shih began trying to eat the meal of these ten lions' corpses
and he began to realize that these ten dead lions
infact were ten stone lions' corpses and he tried to get rid of this matter.

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/SHISHI.RXML

lol

Here is a Chinese poem which is extremely odd. The words in the poem all have different meanings but all 92 words are pronounced the same way (there are tonal differences but we can ignore that for now).


In Chinese characters:

施氏食獅史

石室詩士施氏, 嗜獅, 誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時, 適十獅適市。
是時, 適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅, 恃矢勢, 使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍, 適石室。
石室濕, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始試食是十獅。
食時, 始識是十獅, 實十石獅屍。
試釋是事。

How to pronounce it:

Shi shi shi shi shi

Shi shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi, shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi, shi shi shi shi shi.
Shi shi shi shi.

A translation:

The Lion-eating Poet in the Stone Den

A poet by the name of Shih Shih living in a stone den was fond of lions.
As he had taken an oath to eat ten lions,
he went out to the market every day at ten o'clock in order to look for lions.
It was at the time when all of a sudden ten lions came to the market
and also Shih Shih went to the market at once realizing these ten lions.
Relying on his (bow and) arrows, he caused these ten lions to pass away.
Shih picked up the corpses of these ten lions,
and as he went to the stone den, the stone chamber was damp.
Shih had the stone den wiped by his servant.
As the stone den was cleaned,
it was the time that Shih began trying to eat the meal of these ten lions' corpses
and he began to realize that these ten dead lions
infact were ten stone lions' corpses and he tried to get rid of this matter.

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/SHISHI.RXML

Must have taken quite awhile to write!

It wouldn't really be that hard to do considering that the Chinese language has thousands of characters and about fifteen ways to say them..

It wouldn't really be that hard to do considering that the Chinese language has thousands of characters and about fifteen ways to say them..
Nah there are hundreds if not a thousand ways to say the characters.

That's my favorite poem now!

uh my browser DOES show chinese characters and the 2 poems are very different.

even accounting for the difference in simplified vs tradtional characers they arent the same

why?

uh my browser DOES show chinese characters and the 2 poems are very different.

even accounting for the difference in simplified vs tradtional characers they arent the same

why?
They are both written in traditional characters. The first one has the title and the second one omits the title but otherwise the content is the exact same. Also, the top one is arranged in the western style where you read starting from the top left character and go through each row left to right and then go to the next row. The bottom one is arranged in the Chinese style where you read starting from the top right character and go through each column from top to bottom and then go to the next column to the left.

bump.

Very interesting interpretations from start to finish.