The "mud" in "Drunk as mud" is not a worm
(Zhou Zongxu, Southwest University Documentation Institute)
There have been many articles arguing that "Drunk as mud" "The "mud" in "Mud" should be a kind of worm. I think that interpreting the "mud" in "Drunken as mud" as "mud" is just a pretext. ① When I first read these articles, the viewpoints were indeed very novel. However, upon further reflection, I felt that there was a big problem. Therefore, the author consulted some large dictionaries. For example, the "Chinese Dictionary" explains "drunk as mud" like this: "Drunk to the point of being collapsed into a ball and unable to hold up. It describes the appearance of being extremely drunk." It is not difficult to find that "Chinese Dictionary" explains "drunk as mud". The Big Dictionary does not provide an explanation for the word "mud" in it. Similar dictionaries include "Modern Chinese Dictionary" and other dictionaries. ② The new theory has a big problem, but dictionaries and dictionaries avoid talking about it. What exactly the "mud" in "drunk as mud" refers to is still a problem. Therefore, I am not afraid of being crude, and I will express some of my own opinions on "Drunk as Mud". I hope readers will give you some advice.
The phrase "as drunk as mud" comes from the Eastern Han Dynasty Ying Shao's "Han Guan Yi" "one day without fast and as drunk as mud", the time is the Han Dynasty. It was written more than a thousand years apart from the Southern Song Dynasty's "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu", which was the first to record an insect called "ni". According to the author's research, no one in the thousand years after the Han Dynasty mentioned that the "mud" in "drunk as mud" is an insect, and there is an obvious record of a kind of insect called "mud" in "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu" and other documents. The "mud" of "mud" is the worm. The commentators simply used documents written a thousand years later (Southern Song Dynasty) to frame the word "drunk like mud" that had been used a thousand years ago (Han Dynasty), which is obviously based on the present and ancient times, not to mention these documents that record the name of the insect "ni" , none of them pointed out that the "mud" in "drunk as mud" is mud worm.
According to the investigation, the commentators quoted "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu", Ming Dynasty Chen Jiru's "Meigong Qun Sui Lu", Qing Dynasty's "Kangxi Dictionary" and many other books that record the theory that "mud" is an insect. Documents, discovery theorists have certain biases and mistakes in intercepting and understanding the materials (it should be pointed out that the statement in these documents about an insect called "mud" should be of the same origin, that is, documents written after the era cannot escape copying the era) suspicion of previous literature). Or omit the words "like mud", "like mud", "like a pile of mud", "like mud" and other words; ③ or "like mud", "like a pile of mud", "like mud" Waiting for words, turning a blind eye. "Kangxi Dictionary", "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu", "Meigong Qun Sui Lu" and other documents all have records such as "like mud", "like mud", "ze like mud", and the commentators all Not paying attention can be said to be a big mistake. It directly led to the misunderstanding of the reason for the name "mud bug" and the misjudgment of the original meaning of "mud" in "drunk as mud". "Like mud", "Ru mudran", "Zerru mud", etc. all refer to things like mud. Combining the previous argument in the literature about "there are insects but no bones, they are called 'mud'", we can see that the "mud" insect is named "mud" because its shape is very similar to "mud". The shape is very similar to "mud" which is the reason for the name "mud bug". Otherwise, how could documents such as "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu" have words such as "like mud", "like mud", "like mud"? The commentator omits and ignores important words such as "like mud", "ru mud", "zeru mud", etc., and just says that the "mud" in "drunk like mud" is not like the "mud" in "mud", but like " The word "mud" in "Mud Worm" is obviously a reversal of right and wrong, putting the cart before the horse.
Also, "drunk as mud" has the same meaning as "soft as mud", "slippery as mud", "turbid as mud", "stinky as mud", "rotten as mud" etc. The structural type should be identical in the sense of "mud". And the "mud" in these words obviously does not refer to insects, but to mud. It should be noted that mud is commonly known as thin mud.
There is a line in the folk tale "The Old Son-in-law's Interesting Words on Poetry" that says "Sleeping is like dying, being drunk is like spreading mud". ④ Among them, drunkenness is used as a metaphor for spreading mud, and mud is modified with the quantifier spreading. It is obvious that "mud" refers to "mud", and it is even more obvious that it does not refer to insects. In addition, you can conduct a phonological investigation of "mud" to gain a deeper understanding of the word "mud" in "drunken as mud". The ancient pronunciation of "Ni" belongs to "Ni Mu", and the word "Ni Mu" often contains the meaning of "weakness". Anyone who played with clay as a child knows that clay is very soft and can be shaped at will. Using the word "drunk like mud" to describe the weakness of a drunk person and the situation where they can be manipulated at will is not only appropriate but also very reasonable. In addition, there is another situation worth noting. In southern my country, the colloquial saying is that a person is drunk and loses his body. It is often described as "a piece of pus". "Pus" refers to the mucus flowing out of the nostrils, that is, nasal mucus. "A pool of pus" and "A pool of mud" are similar in form. They are used to describe a state of being drunk and weak, and the two are even more similar. In addition, some lexicographers do not agree with the statement that the "mud" in "drunk as mud" is a worm. For example: "Drunk as mud" in the "Chinese Chinese Dictionary" entry: "Drunk as a puddle of mud." The editor obviously said It is believed that the "mud" in "drunk as mud" is "mud".
It is worth mentioning that "as drunk as mud" is now often translated as "as drunk as mud". The novel "History of the North and South" of the Republic of China: "Before he had finished speaking, Zhu Maichen had already arrived, calling Xiao Dong brothers to get off the boat, and offered wine to encourage them to drink. He got the three of them drunk and ordered him to be carried out, but they heard a thump. "Plopped several times." Also, the mainland writer Tie Ning's "The Bathing Girl": "Wan Meichen is drunk, as drunk as mud." There are many examples of "drunk as mud" as "drunk as mud".
In addition, there are sayings such as "Mud can't hold up the wall", "Mud that can't be supported", etc. Among them, "Mud" is used to support and is used to describe people's uselessness. Therefore, "Mud" is used to describe drunkenness. There is evidence to follow, not to mention that the word "drunk" is included in the vocabulary to describe drunkenness. From the perspective of language use and development, the interpretation of "mud" in "drunken as mud" as "mud" has a mass basis and is more in line with the people's language usage habits and the realistic basis of word use, not to mention "mudworm" "The theory is simply unreliable.
The author believes that those who interpreted the theory that "mud" in "drunk as mud" means "worms" probably did not pay attention or did not carefully understand the meaning of "like mud", "like mud" and "like mud" in the relevant literature. "It's like mud" and other words. ⑤ Otherwise, dictionary editors would not adopt a general approach, and commentators would not think that "drunk as mud" means "drunk as a worm". To put it bluntly, the "mud" in "as drunk as mud" is mud, not worms.
Notes:
"Modern Chinese Dictionary" "Nizui": "To be drunk...all refer to the state of being drunk and paralyzed in a ball due to excessive drinking." ”
There are many articles on this point of view, but only two are listed here: Jiang Jin’s “Drunken as mud, what is the meaning of “mud”? " was published in "Journal of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences", Issue 01, 1999; Xu Hui's "The "mud" that is "drunk as mud" is a strange insect" was published in "Enlightenment", Issue 01, 2009.
Jiang Jin’s “What is the meaning of “mud” as drunk as mud? "Journal of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Issue 01, 1999
Quoted from Li Xiulian's ""Drunk as mud" is not "like mud"" published in "Composition and Examination", Issue 06, 2009, but the author's point of view , the author disagrees, as evidenced above.
Regarding the documents that record "mud" as an insect, the appendix is ??listed. Wu Zeng's "Neng Gai Zhai Man Lu": "There are insects in the South China Sea, which are boneless, and they are called 'mud'. They are alive in the water, and they are drunk when they lose water, just like mud."; Chen Jiru's "Meigong Qun Sui Lu": " Drunken as mud, there are insects in the South China Sea, which are boneless and are called mud. They live in water and are like a pile of mud when they lose water. Like mud.
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