Trope: Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements danger and opportunity (maybe 1937) or 1934
Stephen Goranson
goranson at DUKE.EDU
Sat Oct 23 11:45:28 UTC 2010
Thanks. Here is text from the paper, Michigan Christian Advocate [Detroit] v.61 n.1 Jan. 4, 1934, p. 20 col. 2-3.
[headline] "Wei-Chi"--Danger Plus Opportunity
The annual report of one of our Boards [of Foreign Missions?] this year [1933?] headed its final paragraph with the above strange compound word. As the Chinese word for "crisis," it is rightly declared to be more expressive than our English word. It is composed of two words, "wei" (danger), and "chi" (opportunity).
Does not this imported word suggest our missionary situation? We are no alarmists when we say the world is beset with danger....
But the opportunity is at hand....
....
[col. 3] ....Will Methodism arise to the challenge of this Chinese word--"WEI-CHI"?
[six signatures]
---
Stephen
________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 11:04 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Trope: Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements danger and opportunity (maybe 1937) or 1934
Wonderful! Thanks Stephen. There is a match in the Google Books
archive to a promising document with a GB date of 1932, but I have not
been able to extract even an image snippet from the recalcitrant
database. Here is the short text description and a link to the
database item:
Women and missions: Volumes 9-10
1932 - Snippet view
Let us also share in the full realization that this momentous period
is one of peculiar crisis for which Chinese Christians use the term
"Wei Chi" (way jee), the two ideograms meaning "Danger — Opportunity."
May we avoid the danger of ...
http://books.google.com/books?id=sfXOAAAAMAAJ&
HathiTrust has this volume and gives a date range of 1932-1934 for
Volumes 9 and 10. Access is limited and only search is allowed.
Title Women and missions. v.9-10 1932-1934
Published New York.
Description v.ill.25 cm.
Copyright In-copyright
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89077049724
Limited (search-only) v.9-10 1932-1934 (original from University of Wisconsin)
Garson
On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Trope: Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements
> danger and opportunity (maybe 1937) or 1934
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to Google Books:
> Michigan Christian advocate: Volume 61, Issue 1, 1934
>
> United Methodist Church (U.S.). Detroit Conference, United Methodist Church (U.S.). West Michigan Conference - 1934 - Snippet view
> "Wei-Chi"— Danger Plus Opportunity THE annual report of one of our Boards this ..
> As the Chinese word for "crisis," it is rightly declared to be more expressive than our English word. It is composed of two words, "wei" (danger), and "chi" (opportunity). Does not this imported word suggest our missionary situation ? ...
>
> (I have sent for a paper copy from storage--the volume and year match-- to check)
>
> [ this seems rather similar in tone as well as date (zeitgeist?) to the "may you live in interesting times" story]
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 2:50 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Trope: Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements danger and opportunity (maybe 1937)
>
> FWIW, the important passage cited by Garson finishes with the words, "a
> discovery which makes China and every mission land seem nearer."
>
> The tiny picture of the cover/title page shown by GB includes a tiny date
> which is nearly illegible but almost certainly ends with the numeral "7."
>
> JL
> On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Trope: Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements danger
>> and
>> opportunity (maybe 1937)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Ben was able to find a great 1938 cite when he searched for this trope
>> a few years ago, and1938 still appears to be the earliest date.
>>
>> Here is a link into Google Books that shows a snippet of a work that
>> is probably properly dated 1937.
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=nUrPAAAAMAAJ&q=meaningful#search_anchor
>>
>> (Snippet text)
>>
>> The inscribing was generously done by Pastor Y. C. Ching of the First
>> Baptist Church of Shanghai. Doubly meaningful are these characters:
>> one is the Chinese way of describing danger; the other pictures
>> opportunity. Synonyms of the English word crisis have been discovered
>> likewise to be danger, opportunity—a discovery which makes ...
>>
>> The cover displayed by Google Books says the volume is the "Report of
>> the Forty-ninth Annual Meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union,
>> Auxiliary to Southern Baptist Convention". The Duke catalog says the
>> 37th meeting was held in 1925 and the 38th was held in 1926.
>> Extrapolating suggests the 49th was held in 1937 which is consistent
>> with the date assigned by Google Books.
>>
>> HathiTrust has the work and also gives it a date of 1937. It is
>> "Limited (search only)".
>>
>> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89096037247
>>
>> Checking this on paper is a hassle since it is not available in many
>> libraries – none near me. The date could be inaccurate if several
>> convention reports are combined in one volume, or for other reasons.
>>
>> Garson
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Ben Zimmer
>> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> > Subject: Re: well-traveled snowclone
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 9:00 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> An old business snowclone involves the alleged danger/opportunity or
>> >> risk/opportunity duality in a single character. Another version that
>> >> made it into Tom Wolfe's novels is that the Chinese word for "crisis" is
>> >> composed of two symbols--for danger and for opportunity.
>> >>
>> >> Language Log had covered this before:
>> >>
>> >> http://bit.ly/c9HFXl
>> >>
>> >> with a nod to a more direct debunking
>> >>
>> >> http://bit.ly/cWaoWs
>> >>
>> >> This morning, on Colorado Public Radio, Tom Tancredo invented yet
>> >> another version:
>> >>
>> >> "Chinese symbol for opportunity and problem is the same symbol."
>> >
>> > For historical background on the spread of the trope, both in its
>> > "crisis = danger + opportunity" and "crisis = opportunity" variants,
>> > see my Language Log post:
>> >
>> > http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004343.html
>> >
>> > Related posts listed here:
>> >
>> > http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1212
>> >
>> > --bgz
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Ben Zimmer
>> > http://benzimmer.com/
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