[lit-ideas] Re: "You Like Chinese Food"
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:55:52 -0700 (PDT)
I reckon that this is an attempt to bring more people into the battle on both
sides, but some hearings have reached us that the War of Troy is already over.
________________________________
From: "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 3:17 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] "You Like Chinese Food"
In a message dated 6/11/2013 5:45:17 A.M. UTC-02, mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx
writes:
My fortune cookie read, "You like Chinese food." It was wrong. "Like" is
a strong word; it is only OK.
Part of the problem is linguistic; part is probabilistic.
It may be argued that Chinese fortune cookie messages should employ Chinese
concepts. And "OK" is _not_ a Chinese (but an American) concept.
"You find Chinese food OK"
sounds too vernacular to be credible.
The probabilities of someone reading a Chinese fortune cookie message and
NOT liking Chinese food are minimal.
Note that the message did NOT read:
"You LOVE Chinese food".
The concept of 'liking' is one of the most English of all concepts. What
makes it especially English is that the subject is the liker, not the
thing-liked.
The source is Old English lician "to please, be sufficient," from
Proto-Germanic *likjan (cf. Old Norse lika, Old Frisian likia, Old High German
lihhen, Gothic leikan "to please"), from *lik- "body, form; like, same."
Note that, strictly, and etymologically,
"You like Chinese food" means "You please Chinese food", or, less
colloquially, "You are sufficient to Chinese food".
"The basic meaning seems to be "to be like" (see like (adj.)), thus, "to be
suitable." Like (and dislike) originally flowed the other way: It likes
me, where we would say I like it. The modern flow began to appear late 14c.
(cf. please).
---
Note that if the Chinese fortune cookie had been written before the late
14c its meaning would be other.
Cheers,
Speranza
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