So if I go to Chen village tomorrow nobody will be calling themselves Master? Yeah, right.
dragonprawn wrote:
And what I also object to is those on this board who automatically equate Master with big ego. I have known many who call themselves Master who are humble and many with big egos who say "I am not a Master or even your teacher - I am just a fellow student".
cdobe wrote:Cute grandmaster
mixjourneyman wrote:cdobe wrote:Cute grandmaster
I question that she is even at the master level of cute... at most she is a shifu... *turn of sarcasm*
mixjourneyman wrote:I take it back.
She can take my bishop any day
mixjourneyman wrote:Well, you posted a picture, so at least I can have a rook....
*turn off Chinese accent*
klonk wrote:Grandmaster Lobster,
The problem is not the word. The problem is the meanings people pour into the word. To use it as you suggest, in the sense of a teacher's teacher, steps outside existing English definitions. Some use it that way, and I have even seen people refer to great grandmasters, meaning teachers of the teachers of current teachers.
There is no parallel meaning of "grandmaster" in English, though I see what they are trying to say. But does the public see what they are saying? If not, the burden is not on the public to understand they are hearing badly mistranslated Chinese. The burden is on us to use words that convey what we mean. Perhaps in the situation you refer to we should simply say "sigong," and then explain.
Lots of foreign words are used in English, especially in niche and professional jargons. Perhaps we should add one more, rather than trying to force fit an existing English word than means something very different.
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