called it a tiao6 bench. "That is wrong," thought he. "How ludicrous!" For large-headed fish, fried in oil, the Weichuangites used, as a garnish, scallion leaves sliced half an inch in length, while the urbanites sliced the scallion leaves into silken shreds. He again thought, "That also is wrong and laughable!" The truth of the situation is that the Weichuangites were comical rustics, who had not seen the great outside world. They had never seen a city fried-fish!
Ah Q, with his "eminent ancestors," superior knowledge, and "real ability for work," was almost a complete man of parts, but it is regrettable that in his physical make-up there was a flaw. This very repulsive feature lay on his scalp where, in a few spots, at some time unknown, impetigo scars had appeared. Albeit they were on his own body, Ah Q did not seem to consider that they added to his self-esteem. For this reason, he tabooed the character lai which means mange or impetigo, and extended that taboo to all the characters with the sound lai. Afterwards, he widened the scope of the taboo to include such words as kuang, "bright," liang, "brilliant," and still later spread the taboo to "lamp" and "candle." Whenever these taboos were violated by others, and it mattered not whether it had been done intentionally or unintentionally, every one of Ah Q's scars would flush with fury. He would survey
