A Little Help from my Friends

Seuipeih: poor in knowledge or skill; sloppyA famous politician named Wohng Ngon Sehk (A.D. 1021-1086) wrote a dictionary. In it, he split the character "wave" into its basic literal strokes, breaking the word down into "skin of water." His contemporary, Sou Sik, a man of letters, disagreed with him. According to Wohng's rules, Sou argued, the character "slippery" would then be viewed as "bone of water." Sou believed that Wohng had been sloppy in his etymology.A writer can be sloppy after … [Read more...]