狗的形象中外对比
Different Images of Dogs between Chinese and Foreigners
Chinese and foreigners have distinctively different viewpoints about dogs. Foreigners from western countries consider dogs as the best friends of human, while we Chinese regard dogs as fawners which means “摇尾乞怜” in Chinese.
Dogs refer to person in English. When foreigners say “ You are a lucky dog”, they would like to show a kind of intimacy, without insult meaning. There are many interesting proverbs about dogs. For example, if a girl tells her boyfriend that “Love me, love my dog”, she wants to express that her boyfriend must accept everything about her, even her faults or weakness. Love me, love my dog is equal to what the Chinese say 爱屋及乌. Another proverb goes, “Every dog has his day”. When success has eluded a friend of him, a foreigner will give his friend a hug and tell him that “Take it easy! You know what they say, every dog has his day and you will have yours!” This proverb is similar to “风水轮流转” or “三十年河东，三十年河西”.
On the contrary, even we Chinese people think dogs are cute, loyal, capable and keep them as pets, we belittled dogs in our culture. There are many idioms about dogs. But most of the idioms contempt dogs. The idioms “猪狗不如” and “狼心狗肺” means heinous person. In the idiom狗盗鸡鸣, we regard dogs as thieves and brigands. In addition, when we Chinese say 狗仗人势, 狗头鼠脑, we describe somebody as a flunkey. To sum up, we Chinese endow dog with a bad image. If you call someone dog, he will think you are cursing him.
However, things have changed. We Chinese start gradually to accept the appellation of dog. We call someone who takes part in the postgraduate entrance exams 考研狗. People who are engaged in scholarism are called 学术狗. Besides, those who don’t have romantic partners or those who are not married are called 单身狗.
In short, the image of dogs are quite different between Chinese and foreigners. Anyhow, it doesn’t stop us, both Chinese and foreigners, from loving dogs.