Hear the story behind Transition 前進樂團s hit song dui bu QI with the iTunes featured podcast talk Chineasy!
Most Chinese people don’t know the origins of this character - you can outsmart them in their own language!
I’m sorry = “对不起/對不起“ (duì bù qǐ). “对” = correct “不” =not “起” = match. In ancient China, the wise village elders played a game called “rhyming couplets” - a battle of rhyming wit. When one could not “match” the other’s couplet, they would apologize, and lose the game. Thus, “unable to match correctly” is the literally translation of “I’m sorry”!
For more etymological anecdotes, listen to Talk Chineasy oniTunes at http://iTunes.com/TalkChineasy or on Amazon Echo at https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N6AYBMU.
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