Hung J Lu (h…@GAS.UUG.Arizona.EDU) wrote:
: Well, I don’t know how people make ink in the West. In Chinese caligraphy
: you need four things: 1) the brush, 2) the paper 3) the ink dish
: (and some water) 4) the ink bar. (The Chinese call these four things
: Wen2 Fang2 Si4 Bao3: the four precious items of a caligraphy room).
: See, the ink does not come in liquid form, you are supposed to make
: it as you go. Ink bar (sorry for the terminology, I don’t know whether
: there is a more acknowledged term) is a black, solid bar, made of fume
: residue (like toner, for modern computer geeks) and some lacquer-like
: material. Usually it has some fragrant smell, too. You rub it against
I think I’ve seen it called "ink stick" or "ink stone". Also, by "fume
residue", do you mean "soot"?
: the dish and disolve it in water in order to get the ink. Well, at least
: this was the traditional way of doing thing. Making ink is part of the
: fun in a caligraphy class. But nowadays many school kids just use the
: liquid ink that comes in a bottle. Nothing like the good old days…
: Now, imagine someone trying to "wash clean" an ink bar…. 
: Not only you make a mess, but you only get it clean when … ah,
: when it shrinks into nothing.
: By the way, my grandfather was a hero to me. He was the Hercules
: of the neighborhood.
: — Ekki
–
————————————————————–
There is no such thing as bad data, only data from bad homes.
Steve MacGregor (steve…@bud.indirect.com) wrote:
: > (Would you believe that my grandfather tried once to wash an ink
: > bar because it looked dark and dirty to him? I kid you not.
: > My grandfather was illiterate.)
: Would I believe? I don’t know. Tell me what an ink bar is, and I’ll
: tell you whether I believe.
Well, I don’t know how people make ink in the West. In Chinese caligraphy
you need four things: 1) the brush, 2) the paper 3) the ink dish
(and some water) 4) the ink bar. (The Chinese call these four things
Wen2 Fang2 Si4 Bao3: the four precious items of a caligraphy room).
See, the ink does not come in liquid form, you are supposed to make
it as you go. Ink bar (sorry for the terminology, I don’t know whether
there is a more acknowledged term) is a black, solid bar, made of fume
residue (like toner, for modern computer geeks) and some lacquer-like
material. Usually it has some fragrant smell, too. You rub it against
the dish and disolve it in water in order to get the ink. Well, at least
this was the traditional way of doing thing. Making ink is part of the
fun in a caligraphy class. But nowadays many school kids just use the
liquid ink that comes in a bottle. Nothing like the good old days…
Now, imagine someone trying to "wash clean" an ink bar….
Not only you make a mess, but you only get it clean when … ah,
when it shrinks into nothing.
By the way, my grandfather was a hero to me. He was the Hercules
of the neighborhood.
– Ekki
According to h…@GAS.UUG.Arizona.EDU (Hung J Lu):
> (Would you believe that my grandfather tried once to wash an ink
> bar because it looked dark and dirty to him? I kid you not.
> My grandfather was illiterate.)
Would I believe? I don’t know. Tell me what an ink bar is, and I’ll
tell you whether I believe.
–
—- <http://www.indirect.com/www/stevemac/ttt-hejmo.html>
——–
—————— Steve MacGregor, Phoenix, AZ
——————————————
Harlan Messinger (gu…@clark.net) wrote:
: I think I’ve seen it called "ink stick" or "ink stone". Also, by "fume
: residue", do you mean "soot"?
Yes, "soot". Thanks! My English is full of weird expressions
"Ink stick" seems more appropriate, too.
– Ekki
h…@GAS.UUG.Arizona.EDU, thus:
>Harlan Messinger (gu…@clark.net) wrote:
>: I think I’ve seen it called "ink stick" or "ink stone". Also, by "fume
>: residue", do you mean "soot"?
>Yes, "soot". Thanks! My English is full of weird expressions
>"Ink stick" seems more appropriate, too.
"Ink stick" is a length of some sort of carbonaceous stuff that you
buy from the local purveyor of such things. "Ink stone" is a smallish
plank of, well, stone, with a flat area and a smaller dished-out
reservoir. You slosh some water onto the flat part of the stone and
grind the stick against it, taking this opportunity to compose your
thoughts in an appropriate Confucianist/Taoist/Buddhist manner (or,
if you’re a Westerner, you can contemplate how fucking tedious this
whole process is), meanwhile pushing the ground ink-water mixture
into the reservoir with the ink stick. When the stuff in the reservoir
reaches the proper consistency, you pick up your mao-bi (writing brush)
dip it into the ink in the reservoir, and begin to write.
"Bi" (third, or low, tone, as I recall) simply means "writing implement".
It forms compounds such as:
Gang-bi = steel "bi" = pen
Qian-bi = lead "bi" = pencil
Mao-bi = hair "bi" = writing brush
(and this "mao" is the same word as that which the Great Helmsman
adopted as his "nomme de guerre", apparently in reference to his own
healthy head of hair.)
—
Dave "hope this helps" Lewis, ma…@panix.com, NYC
In article <3uaml3$…@panix2.panix.com>, ma…@panix.com (Dave Lewis) writes:
<
<(and this "mao" is the same word as that which the Great Helmsman
<adopted as his "nomme de guerre", apparently in reference to his own
<healthy head of hair.)
How odd that his "nomme [_sic_] de guerre" was identical with his surname.
–Scott
In article <3udv26INN…@suned.zoo.cs.yale.edu>,
Scott Horne <horne-sc…@cs.yale.edu> wrote:
Zao3 a, Scott. Tian1qi zhen1 re4. Wo3 hen3 hao3, ni3 ne?
(OK, not very scintillating conversation, but I’m still on Lesson One.)
>In article <3uaml3$…@panix2.panix.com>, ma…@panix.com (Dave Lewis) writes:
><
><(and this "mao" is the same word as that which the Great Helmsman
><adopted as his "nomme de guerre", apparently in reference to his own
><healthy head of hair.)
>How odd that his "nomme [_sic_] de guerre" was identical with his surname.
Well, it’s easier to remember that way.
(Mr. Lewis may also have been thinking of Mao’s _gnome de guerre_, a
very short soldier entrusted with important espionage missions.)
Hung J Lu (h…@GAS.UUG.Arizona.EDU) wrote:
: Harlan Messinger (gu…@clark.net) wrote:
: : I think I’ve seen it called "ink stick" or "ink stone". Also, by "fume
: : residue", do you mean "soot"?
: Yes, "soot". Thanks! My English is full of weird expressions
: "Ink stick" seems more appropriate, too.
Weird perhaps, but definitely lovely
I knew exactly what you meant
by "ink bar", and understood "fume residue" perfectly well –
frighteningly, I knew what you meant but couldn’t think of the ‘proper’
word. Guess I’ve been studying languages too long …
Lindsay
In article <3udv26INN…@SUNED.ZOO.CS.YALE.EDU>, horne-sc…@cs.yale.edu (Scott Horne) writes:
|> In article <3uaml3$…@panix2.panix.com>, ma…@panix.com (Dave Lewis) writes:
|> <
|> <(and this "mao" is the same word as that which the Great Helmsman
|> <adopted as his "nomme de guerre", apparently in reference to his own
|> <healthy head of hair.)
|>
|> How odd that his "nomme [_sic_] de guerre" was identical with his surname.
|>
|> –Scott
|>
Yes, Mao is a surname. And it does not mean head hair (which would be fa1), but
body hair.
In article <3uead9$…@netsrv2.spss.com>, markr…@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder) writes:
<In article <3udv26INN…@suned.zoo.cs.yale.edu>,
<Scott Horne <horne-sc…@cs.yale.edu> wrote:
<
<Zao3 a, Scott.
Wan3shang4 hao3. :-)
<Tian1qi zhen1 re4.
Shi4 de, re4 de kuai4 shou4-buliao3.
> Wo3 hen3 hao3, ni3 ne?
Lao3 yang4zi.
<>In article <3uaml3$…@panix2.panix.com>, ma…@panix.com (Dave Lewis) writes:
<><
<><(and this "mao" is the same word as that which the Great Helmsman
<><adopted as his "nomme de guerre", apparently in reference to his own
<><healthy head of hair.)
<
<(Mr. Lewis may also have been thinking of Mao’s _gnome de guerre_, a
<very short soldier entrusted with important espionage missions.)
Perhaps. But no biography I checked mentioned any hirsute yet short
railway-station attendant (_gnome de gare_) named Mao.
–Scott