Here is an article I found on the Internet
I don’t know who it is from
“If the fish is dead, the meat is rotten, and if it is not cut properly, it will not be eaten” is Confucius Another famous saying. But does it also follow that the phenomenon of eating stinky fish and meat at that time may not be uncommon or rare. Otherwise, how could such a saint come out and speak such a classic saying, and have it passed down to subsequent Confucian disciples and recited by heart? Today, we know that smelly fish and smelly meat cannot be eaten because they may contain carnitine produced by carnitine bacteria. That thing is extremely poisonous. If you eat it, it will cause poisoning and death. There is another reason why this sentence is still so famous today. It is the interpretation and understanding of "cutting incorrectly". Those Confucian disciples understand "cutting incorrectly" as meaning that the meat must be cut or cut squarely before it can be eaten. If we look at the situation at that time when meat was so rare and rare, only those who were high officials could eat it, and even carrion and stinky fish were often eaten, "improper cutting" should be another explanation. It makes sense, that is, "improper cutting" means meat of unknown origin and cannot be eaten. This is also in line with the temperament of people like Old Master who attach great importance to etiquette. If you understand it this way, the original meaning of this sentence will be more understandable.
The first chapter of the book "The Naked Ape", "Origin", focuses on the introduction of human ancestors who came from the trees to the trees, from the forest to the wilderness, and changed from a vegetarian diet to a carnivorous vegetarian diet. The general process of doing both. For the ancestors of the Chinese, perhaps animal foods were so difficult to obtain, perhaps plant foods were relatively easy to obtain, or perhaps environmental conditions made plant foods more abundant, and they still retained a diet dominated by plant foods. habits. However, meat is rare and delicious, so it is precious. Because it is rare and precious, only a few people can eat it. "Meat-eaters think about it" means that those things are considered by those who eat meat (as officials). It can be inferred that even in the Late Bronze Age, when hunting or raising domestic animals was quite common, even carrion and stinky fish were often reluctant to be discarded and eaten by people. Stolen meat and dead bodies may be used. After eating, Master Kong had to speak out.
Today, if we re-understand "If the cutting is not correct, the food will not be eaten", the meaning of Master Confucius will be clearer. "Improperly cut" is equivalent to "the fish is dead and the meat is rotten", that is, "the meat of unknown origin is like smelly fish and smelly meat, which cannot be eaten." Only in this way can we truly reflect the original intention of Confucius. In fact, this kind of metaphor is not isolated in "The Analects of Confucius". For example, "Food, sex, and sex" means that "lustful is just like people wanting to eat. It is human nature." The same principle applies to rhetoric and grammar.
Those pedantic people, "take meat that is not cut squarely and do not eat it as meat that is not cut squarely and cannot be eaten." Bingmiao species has been circulating for nearly a thousand years, which is really annoying and lamentable. Just like "Only women and villains are difficult to raise", such a humorous saying is also regarded as a classic quotation by the so-called Confucian brothers and is listed seriously in the "Analects of Confucius". If Confucius knows something underground, he doesn't know it. What kind of exclamation should I make!
Today, I will re-interpret this sentence and of course its practical significance. Human food is already quite abundant. You can basically eat meat if you want. Food and clothing are basically solved. Do Chinese people insist on eating meat of unknown origin? National law explicitly prohibits eating the meat of wild animals, but so many people still flock to it.
It seems that I still need to quote the old master’s words and teach him a lesson