Nonsense: Birds Matter

Each time I see Le Coq Sportif printed on the back of one's T-shirt, I smile from the deep of my heart. Yes, Le Coq reminds of something dirty in my language. Chevrolet Nova cars didn't sell well in Spanish speaking countries because no va in Spanish means it doesn't go. You probably will go into such jokes everyday if you get more alert to words.

In many places of China, a cock is referred to a man's genital organ and a chick a prostitute. Not much different from their English counterparts, huh? Recently a computer geek has posted a video clip on Youtube displaying that a (real!) cock's head is the most stable system ever on this planet, in which a cock, in its owner's swaying arms, successfully kept its head steady enough to surprise all those complaining that their operating systems are somehow unstable. That video clip has hit the core essence that we relate cock to a man's genital organ. It has figuratively revealed the Tao of how genital organs should work.

Li Kui, an angry young man in the 11th century of our era, a jail officer in old China, dislikes a person by addressing him bird man. Nearly every Chinese knows this famous addressing. Thus you must be careful with this phrase because a bird man in China flies not, but sucks in fact. As language itself evolves, now we are saying, He does not bird you. If a person does not bird you, he doesn't give a shit about your being.

However, as people always recite, a coin has two sides. If a man is very birdy, he has some reputation. He may be a guy who is able to drink a lot or whose bed pleasures can last overnight. I'd believe this is a metaphor as, in some areas of China, a man's genital organ is called bird. If one is as firm and strong as a penis erected, he has something to boast about.

Birds matter in Chinese culture. The wife of Long, the Chinese dragon, is Feng, a phoenix like bird that only ranks the second with Long as the first in the hierachy of royal symbolism. Nonetheless, in the long history of China, there have been only two instances that Feng overtook Long's missionary position in the hierachy, which shows we are diehards to observe traditional ideas and customs.