兩周一聚：傳統與傳統智慧

hevangel

28th Mar 2009 - 02:41pm

今期兩週一聚由加燦出題目﹐原本的題目水蛇春咁長﹕傳統 & 傳統智慧 / Convention & Conventional Wisdom。為免影響博面排板美觀﹐我把貼子的題目改為﹕傳統與傳統智慧。原本加燦要求一雞兩吃﹐同一題目中英文各交一篇﹐可惜我恕難從命﹐原因請看篇未注腳。

傳統與傳統智慧
每間學校也有它的獨特傳統﹐我不是指尊師重道或德智體群那些官方傳統﹐而是在學生間世代相傳的不成文規定。我的中學便有一個十分特別的傳統習俗﹐做生日。做生日並不是為同學慶祝生日﹐而是一班同學忽然間圍著其中一位同學﹐很高興地唱生日快樂﹐然後把“壽星仔”按著背脊朝天﹐大伙兒以拳頭相向﹐將不幸被圍的同學打得彭彭作響。做生日的受害者並不只是被圍在中央的同學﹐在外圍的同學手不夠長﹐打不到中央的同學﹐隨便看到那個背脊便打落去。生日會通常不會持續太久﹐每位同學過完手癮後﹐便會一哄而散。

不一定要生日的人才便被做生日﹐當然生日的人一定逃不過被做生日的命運。每一人也有可能是壽星仔﹐選擇基本上帶有隨機性﹐當有有些不幸的同學被選中的機會高些。生日會可以發生在任何時間任何地點﹐轉堂時小息時放午飯時甚至上堂時。最常見的一種生日會在排隊時發生﹐一班同學自發地候守在樓梯口﹐第一位從樓梯下來的同學便自動成為壽星仔﹐而後來從樓梯下來的同學看見有生日會﹐當然會加也快腳步一起加入慶祝。有同學在課室內搞事﹐騷擾一位受歡迎的老師講課﹐我們即場做他生日﹐安撫他後讓老師安心授課。最經典放會考前最後一天﹐我們為一位深不得人心的舊生老師做生日。他幾經爭扎逃出我們班的圍困後﹐他在隔鄰班上最後一節課時﹐害怕再次被做生日﹐還未落堂便奪門而逃。

做生日也有其傳統智慧。生日的正日當然不可以讓同學知道。行落樓梯時也要小心﹐要眼觀八路耳聽四方﹐若果察覺到樓梯底氣氛異樣﹐便應該折反上樓﹐讓其他同學身先士卒。被圍的時每個人的反應不同﹐有些同學會嘗試突圍﹐不過通常也不會成功。有些同學會採取守勢保護自己﹐其實做生日也不是認真地打﹐大伙兒又不是收賣人命。我被圍時則以攻為守﹐隨手找一個同學拉他入圍﹐讓他與我一起分享被慶祝生日。其他同學有兩個背脊做目標﹐落在自己背脊便的拳頭便減少一半。

生日會歷史悠久深入民心 ﹐現在我們在舊同學結婚時﹐仍然會保留這項優良傳統。在飲宴留到最後等大部份親友離去後﹐我們便會舉行這個簡單而隆重的做生日儀式。雖然人老了大家只是循例做樣子扮打﹐但是拍照出來的效果十分有趣。

Footnote: Convention and Conventional Wisdom
Something is wrong with Kempton’s choice of the English title. The translation of 傳統 should be tradition. Convention usually means a big meeting which is not really related to conventional wisdom. I could not figure out the relationship between convention and conventional wisdom, so I could not write anything else except this analysis of the English title.

其他文章﹕
加燦 (出題者)、周游、hevangel、Sherry、michelle、軍師奶、Ian、C9讀與食、南杏、lomichee、zero、芸、mad dog、chili mom、mingmanfred、hongkieatlarge、athrunz、Haricot 微豆、Silver、The Man who Loves Everton、hihisimon、longqt、肥肥媽媽

下期題目﹕ 怕

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Silver

March 28th, 2009 at 11:09 pm · Reply

Convention does refer to “custom or tradition”. “Meeting” is another meaning.

http://www.onelook.com/?w=convention&last=conventino&loc=spell1

加燦

March 29th, 2009 at 12:44 am · Reply

Horace,

I know I can expect something different from you. ha ha.

So violent, “然後把“壽星仔”按著背脊朝天﹐大伙兒以拳頭相向”.

Finally, thanks for writing your 注腳 in English. And of course, I disagree with you. ha ha.

michelle

March 29th, 2009 at 5:59 am · Reply

嘩 :O

mingmanfred

March 29th, 2009 at 9:44 am · Reply

好搞笑, 打人。

March 29th, 2009 at 8:28 pm · Reply

Dear Horace,

I want to apologize to you. You are right that “Convention” doesn’t translate to “傳統”.

So I apologize for setting this topic so you weren’t able to participate more fully.

lomichee

March 29th, 2009 at 9:48 pm · Reply

哈哈！我幾有興趣想知你讀邊間學校有此傳統。
壽星仔竟然怕被人知道同佢「慶祝」，都幾特別，但又幾可憐！

March 29th, 2009 at 10:34 pm · Reply

Silver: True, but even in that meaning, convention seems not as old as tradition.

kempton: It’s not very violence, we do it every day.

lomichee: You can check my “about” page.

March 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm · Reply

Not really. If you look up the words carefully, you’ll know convention and tradition can be on the same line, in some contexts, of course. So it just depends on what you write.

March 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm · Reply

kempton: technically speaking, my entry still comply with the rule. It has Chinese and it has English. It also talks about convention and conventional wisdom.

March 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pm · Reply

Silver: True, but there is a subtle difference between convention and tradition. Say I can use convention referring to the TCP/IP protocol specification, but I can’t say the TCP/IP protocol specification is a tradition.

March 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pm · Reply

Just for you.

“The terms “convention” and “conventional” are flagrantly and intricately ambiguous. On the one hand, the conventional is the ordinary, the usual, the **traditional**, the orthodox as against the novel, the deviant, the unexpected, the heterodox. On the other hand, the conventional is the artificial, the invented, the optional, as against the natural, the fundamental, the mandatory (1989, p. 80).”

source: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/convention/

Please I had a bit at the comments section of
http://ca8hk.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/learning-something/