君無戲言
君 = 君主 monarch
無 = 沒有 not or without
戲 = 遊戲 game or play, can be extended to "joking"
言 = 語言 speech or words
周成王(1042–1021 BCE) became the monarch at the young age of thirteen. One day, while playing with his younger brother, the following conversation took place:
At that time, the monarch would give a 玉珪(Jade Gui) to feudal lords to prove their right to rule a region. 周成王 cut a tungoil tree leaf into the shape of a 玉珪(Jade Gui) and handed it to his younger brother, saying he would invest him as a feudal lord.
The Grand Historian 尹佚, who was in charge of recording historical events, observing celestial phenomena, and managing the calendar. He heard this conversation and requested 周成王 to choose an auspicious day to formally invest his brother with a piece of land.
周成王 said he was just having fun with his brother, and jokes should not be taken seriously.
However, 尹佚 said that whatever the monarch says should all be taken seriously.
Once a monarch speaks, a historian will record it, and the order will be completed according to etiquette to make it effective. After that, the event will be announced through music. (Sort of like bards who use music as their medium and spread accounts of important events.)Thus, 周成王 invested his younger brother as the feudal lord of 唐.
So the concept of "君無戲言" means that those in power will not and should not casually talk nonsense. This phrase has deeply influenced Chinese culture, leading most people to intuitively believe that whatever the leader says, we should believe it first.
The other phrase is very modern.
小孩子才做選擇
小孩子才做選擇 (Only children have to make choices.)
As I recall, the phrase should have been uttered by a candidate during a televised debate in 2019 when responding to a media question. The question would have required him to make a choice, but he did not answer directly and instead said this.
Let's see.
The point of the phrase is that although the literal meaning is that only children have to make choices because of various limitations, the adult who ignores options and says directly that he wants everything is more like a child. But the speaker is a cute child or an annoying child, depending on the context.
How To Use
A：川普的關稅一直在改一直在改，他不知道什麼叫君無戲言嗎？
B：噢~他不是君主，他是民選總統！
A: Trump's tariffs keep changing and changing. Doesn't he know what "君無戲言" (
A monarch's words will not and should not change over and over again.) means?
B: Oh~ he's not a monarch, he's an elected president!
保證安全的軍費要付、造成美國逆差的關稅也要付，小孩子才做選擇，美國全部都要。
The military spending to guarantee security has to be paid, and the tariffs that cause the US trade deficit also have to be paid. Only children have to make choices; the US wants all.
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