※Wine has been drunk, the bottle is sold to me
"Wine dry if you sell nothing "
What is the meaning of this phrase
Wine is for sale
Wine is for sale
Wine is for sale
What a familiar sound
How many years have I been with you in the winds and the rain
Never need to think of it
Never forget it
... ...
A song called "Wine is dry if you sell nothing" was once sung in the streets of the motherland, and to this day, the song is still much loved by the youth of today, and has become a favorite ditty that many people hum every day. Although I am not a fan of the song, and I can't even call myself an enthusiast, I sometimes hum the song "酒干倘卖无......"
那么，怎么突然想起这首歌呢？ It's because I was reminded of the topics related to the song: wine, dry wine, dry wine, if sold, if sold without ...... etc. These phrases, which sound like stuttering and broken phrases to outsiders, gave me the idea to write a short article for the "Interesting Words of Minnan Language Forest".
Frequent readers of newspapers may remember that a few years ago, these stammering, disjointed phrases were the subject of a full-page, several-article study of the southern Min dialect in the "Luminous Cup" column of a southern newspaper of China, using the song "Wine is dry, if you sell nothing" as a starting point. In the full-page articles, except for the correct interpretation of wine, none of them was correct about the original meaning of the phrase "酒干倘卖无". Most of the articles think that "酒干" means to dry up the wine; "酒干倘" means to drink a little bit of wine that is left "flowing"; "酒干 ...sell no" is the inversion of "no wine for sale" ...... such as than this, analyzed tastefully. I believe that people who are slightly familiar with Minnan dialect will be hilarious when they hear this kind of analysis!
As we all know, the study of any language should first be familiar with this language. By the same token, how can we study Minnan dialect without familiarizing ourselves with it? The song "酒干倘卖无" was originally a business phrase used in southern Fujian and Taiwan to buy and sell along the streets. At that time, as the song "酒干倘卖无" was being sung in the streets and lanes all over the world, some literati were sympathetic to this common phrase in Taiwan and southern Fujian and started to study it, but they didn't realize that this kind of "street language" was the most common. They do not realize that this kind of "street language" is inexhaustible and difficult to study. Besides, to study every word in Minnan, you should first familiarize yourself with its usage environment and word structure, otherwise you will definitely make jokes. For example, if you really have enough conditions to study the lyrics of "酒干若卖无", then you should at least be able to accurately disconnect, combine and derive the words according to their original meaning, such as: 酒, 酒干, 干酒, 干酒, dry, dry up; 倘,毋若, 有倘, 无倘; 若卖, 如果卖无, 没有倘卖,有倘卖, 卖多少, 卖好, 卖無了, 无卖了. ...... and so on. Interesting, isn't it? The phrase "酒干倘卖无", just five words, can be broken down into so many words and phrases at once. This also shows that there is a need to accumulate a considerable number of Minnan words in order to accurately break down more Minnan words and phrases and figure out their true meanings.
After breaking down the correct words, we can then study its original meaning. In Minnan language, "wine" is the general term for all kinds of wine that people drink every day; what is "wine dry"? What is "dry wine"? This is the most unknown term in southern Fujian - empty wine bottles; "dry wine" is the inverted version of the southern Fujian proposal or atmosphere of "drying up the wine";" The original meaning of "如果" is "可以"; "毋若" is the affirmative "不可以", "不应该"; "有若" is a question, "Is there anything you can ...... do about it? "无倘" is also an affirmative, nothing can ...... be done; "有倘买" is an affirmative, what can be bought; "有倘售" is also an affirmative, what can be sold? "If you buy" is an affirmative sentence, what you can buy; "if you sell" is also an affirmative sentence, what you can sell; "if you buy nothing" is unable to buy; "if you sell nothing" is divided into meanings according to the tone of the words: the tone of the words is light, it's sold out, sold out. In a heavier tone, it is a question, "Is there anything to sell?" At this point, the original meaning of the phrase "酒干若卖无" is introduced, that is, "Are there any empty bottles for sale?"
The key word in the phrase "酒干若卖无" is "空酒瓶", and if the central meaning is understood, the meaning of how to break the sentence will be right. If you call it "empty bottles of wine for sale?" is also right. Then, how do you answer "If you have empty bottles of wine to sell"? It can be "yes", "if you sell it", "if you don't sell it", "if you sell it", or "if you sell it", "no if sell" ...... and so on, which is also accurate to the central meaning. Another point to note, "sell no" is a question, such as the answer to "sell no la", the tone of voice word "la" has become a keyword "sold out The answer to this question is "I'm not going to be able to do that.
This shows that every sentence and every word in the Minnan dialect has a rigorous logical meaning, and there is no shortage of one-sentence masters and one-word masters to follow.
The story behind the song
This is an old song, but it seems to have lasted forever. It's actually a very touching song, but it's slowly being covered by singers who have changed the original flavor. First it was Su Rui, who sang it well. Then came Dickie, who has become more and more of a simple rock song, without the tear-jerking feeling.
Men, women and children in southern Fujian and Taiwan will sing at the top of their lungs a couple of lines of "酒干干倘卖无,酒干倘卖无......".
This is a Minnan dialect, which roughly means, "Do you have a bottle of wine to sell?". The people who buy discarded empty bottles and sell them to recycling centers to make a little money in southern Fujian and Taiwan all walk the streets and alleys while shouting, "If you have any bottles to sell, don't sell them". If anyone has an empty bottle to sell, he or she will call out to the waste collector.
When I was very young, I used to yell this song - "酒干干倘卖无,酒干倘卖无......"。 I never knew who the original singer was, but only as a folk song circulating in the folklore; I never knew how to sing the complete song, but only this most popular one.
To a little bit older, went to elementary school, will listen to the song, know probably the lyrics, know sing this song is a female singer. But I couldn't figure out what the vague lyrics I remembered had to do with the phrase "If you're drunk, you're not going to sell it". Listening to this line alone, I always thought that this is just a powerful rock song, but I never thought that behind it, there is such a sad story hidden.
I don't know if that story is true or not, but after reading that story, I can't help but cry every time I listen to this song.
It was a movie about "Wine and Dine". The movie was called "The Wrong Car" - maybe I'm stupid, until now I still don't understand the connection between the title and the content of the story. But what is touching is the movie, which could care less about its name.
Then, it was more than a decade ago.
Then, there were few VCDs, so I watched rented videotapes.
At that time, I was still in elementary school. So I can only pick up the remaining fragments of that movie in my memory.
The story is about a deaf and mute man. I don't remember what he did for a living, but I do remember that in his house, the walls were made of empty wine bottles stacked one on top of the other. The whole so-called "wall" looked like the bottom of a round glass bottle. Green. Neat. Simple. Now that I think about it, his occupation should be to buy empty wine bottles. No wife and children. No friends. I have a vague impression that because he couldn't speak, he seemed to use a different kind of sound, such as knocking and beating, instead of shouting, "If there is nothing to sell, then there is nothing to buy".
The poor deaf-mute man found a baby one day. It was a girl. With a smile on his face, he happily took her home. The hard work of a single and poor deaf-mute man raising a baby under the age of one can be imagined. He was busy every day, but as he watched her grow up little by little, the hard work turned into joy on his face.
The baby girl finally grew up. She is good, filial, cheerful and elegant. The man is finally old. Wrinkled, gray hair, thin, old.
What remains unchanged is that the man who has become an old man is still loving and kind, his family is still not rich, and the wall is still those bottles of wine.
The man raised a man that way with the little money he earned every day.
The maiden loved to sing and had a good voice. She then met a young man, handsome and talented. Only, wistful, merely an unnamed songwriter.
They were like-minded and in love with each other, and were often together, talking about music and singing together.
The girl's health was not very good, and one day the old man bought a puppy and prepared to kill it for the girl to eat, so that she could replenish her body. But the girl couldn't bear it, so she left the puppy behind and raised it, probably naming it "Wangcai" or something like that. I'll call it Wangcai for now.
Young people often come to the girl's home, help their family some favor, and she together with the feed wangcai tease wangcai. The youth had almost become a part of their family.
Time flies, and the old man's temples have become as frosty as ever. The dog that saved his life has also become a big and powerful wolf dog.
The girl got better and better. Later, she finally became famous. From poor and simple, became bright and dazzling. But it is so busy that there is no time to go home, no time to accompany the old man, no time and youth together. The young girl and the youth even had a quarrel. They grew farther and farther apart. The young girl became a famous singer, while the young man was still scribbling lyrics and songs.
The girl became famous, but she lost her freedom. Her manager forbade her to go home, and she wasn't allowed to see the young man, and she wasn't allowed to meet with the deaf and mute old man. Because how can a big star have a poor home, a deadbeat boyfriend and a disabled father? That, it was said, would affect her image in the eyes of her fans.
The young man persuaded the girl that she should not abandon the old man who had worked so hard to bring her up, but she fell out with him.
One day, the girl held a press conference and the young man dragged the old man to see her. After a long time, the old man looked at his daughter with a trembling, excited smile, longing to see her call him Dad again. The young girl's agent was on hand to prevent the young girl from recognizing the broken old man. With the limelight flashing, the young girl, after a few moments of agonizing struggle and hesitation, ruthlessly denied that the old man was her father. The old man could not hear, but he knew that his daughter did not want to recognize him. Disappointed eyes and muddy old tears, simply let a person fall into the abyss of the world, called the heart of the people hard to tighten.
The dilapidated home, all of a sudden became silent, without the girl's laughter, leaving only a boundless void. The old man's lonesome figure, moving sullenly along the roadside. Followed by his side, was the Wangcai that had been raised for many years, with the same lowered head, as if he knew his master's heartache.
Suddenly, a motorcycle sped by, and the old man was deaf, so he couldn't hear the roaring motor. Wangcai a dart, pounced on the old man's back, pushed his master to the side of the road, while he himself was hit by the motorcycle, rolled over, from the stomach a run over, turned over, lying on the side of the road, his abdomen undulating, covered with blood.
To this day I still wonder if that shot was real, and if a motorcycle was really allowed to run over that dog's belly when it was filmed. That shot was so real, so real that it grips me.
The old man took Wangcai home. The vet shook his head, meaning it was hopeless.
Wangcai was lying on the table, covered in blood, his body breathing heavily, his eyes looking at his master in pain and anguish. The old man was in tears. After all, it is going to die, rather than let it endure the pain of suffering, it is better to let it leave in pain. The old man painfully raised a stick, hesitated, and then ruthlessly smashed it towards Wangcai's head ......
Everything became even more desolate. The old man had nothing left. Then came the disease. The old man was terminally ill.
On one side, there was the falling coldness; on the other, there was the clamor of the stage.
On the one hand, there is the bleakness of the end of the song; on the other hand, there is the warmth of the opening of a good show.
On the one hand, the sadness of loss; on the other, the joy of success.
Father and daughter never saw each other again. The young girl's success blocked their contact. So much so that the young girl knew nothing of her father's illness.
The young girl was not cold-blooded, she was also struggling and conflicted in her helplessness.
The young girl is going to have a concert. The day of her concert coincides with the day the old man goes into surgery.
The youth wrote a song for the young girl in order to wake her up, and the title of the song was "Wine is dry if you sell nothing". The young man delivered the song to her before the concert and told her that the old man's days were numbered. Perhaps, if she is still in the dark, the young man will be disillusioned as well.
The girl read the lyrics and wept bitterly, as the scenes of her father's hard work in bringing her up all came flooding back to her.
She kept learning the song, and at the end of the concert, as the grand finale, she sang "If You Sell Me Wine":
"What a familiar voice/How many years of wind and rain I've been with you/Never need to think of it/Never forget it
Without the sky there is no land/Without the land there is no home/Without the home there is no you/Without the you there is no me
If there is no heaven, there is no land/Without the land there is no home/Without the home there is no me.
If you hadn't raised me/given me a warm life/if you hadn't protected me/what would my destiny have been/
You raised me/told me my first words/you gave me a home/allowed me to share it with you/
Though you didn't speak a single word/you understood the black and white of the world and the true and the false///p>
Although you have never expressed your true feelings/but have given your life with passion/
How familiar your voice is from afar/reminds me of your kind heart/
When will you come back to me/let me sing with you again/
Wine for sale/wine for sale/ wine for sale/wine for sale... ..."
The fans listened quietly until the song was finished and the girl was in tears.
After the concert, the girl did not remove her makeup and did not change out of her costume, but rushed to the hospital.
The old man lying on the hospital bed was dying, but when he saw his daughter, he struggled to move the corners of his lips to reveal a smile.
The girl was at the old man's bedside, no longer caring about reporters, media, managers, fans, she kept calling out "Dad--", crying with guilt, regret and despair.... ...
After that, I was finally able to match the plot of the movie with the lyrics of the song, bit by bit, and finally understood the meaning of the lyrics. Perhaps, this could be the true story of the original singer himself.
The story is this. These fragments in my memory are incomplete, but they are engraved in my heart. After writing these words, I actually also shed two lines of tears. I've been trying to revisit the movie more than ten years ago because I didn't fully understand it in my childhood, but it's hard to find it. If you see "The Wrong Car" somewhere, just borrow it and watch it at home. After you watch it and listen to "Wine Dry If Sold Without", there will be touching feelings hovering in your heart, and there will be tears hovering in your eyes. And I will continue to pursue it, hoping that one day there will be a chance to be touched again and cry once more