Mid-Autumn Festival riddle 12
For earlier riddles, search the tag: Mid-Autumn Festival
Don't chicken out of today's riddle
Then again, you don't have to run around like a headless chicken either (ok, enough of bad puns). MCQ help is here:
A) 夫妻反目
B) 物以类聚
Scroll down for answer
First, let's start with the riddle 嫁鸡随鸡 jià jī suí jī.
The direct translation is "marry chicken, follow chicken". It refers to the idea that once a woman is married, she should stay committed to her man, regardless of the circumstances. (IMO: just looking at the phrase alone, it hints of a sense of helplessness and points back to the traditional Chinese thinking and assumption of women being submissive.)
The answer 物以类聚 wù yǐ lèi jù means "like begets like", hence birds of a feather flock together.
If you break down the phrase, 物 wù = object, 类 lèi = category, 聚 jù = assemble or gather.
In this case, 物以类聚 ("like attracting like") fits the image painted by the riddle (of "chicken following chicken"). The other MCQ option of 夫妻反目 is in fact the direct opposite, of a couple living in disharmony.
There is 1 alternative answer which some of you might think of: 夫唱妇随 fū chàng fù suí. Direct translation means "husband sings, wife follows". Which sort of aligns with the riddle's idea of woman following her man.
Side-track: please don't use Google Translate for these phrases. It gives you the direct translation (somewhat) without a more detailed explanation. As with all idioms and phrases (not just Chinese ones), context is key .. so don't just rely on Google to learn languages.
When Google Translate tries to translate words and tickle your funny bone at the same time