Of Hercules And China

Alrighty, Hercules is NOT, I repeat, NOT Chinese. But they are paired together in this blab for a reason...

Before I got sick as three dogs ripped up in the night by Summer's Eve, I started reading the Greek Myths to the kids.

Da wife and I take turns reading to them each night(more often, she than I. LOL) and she sticks to more of the traditional books: Mother Goose, Dr. Seuss, fairy tales, Frog and Toad, and such.

I like the traditional and classics also, but I am more of a Greek Myth dude.

I spent the first 11 years of my childhood growing up in another country. So, I wasn't doctrinated (we all know "doctrinated" is NOT a real word, LOL)and iterated with the more traditional Mother Goose or Dr. Seuss.

I read more of the world wide known stories such as the fairy tales and the myths.

but I digest yet, again...

Anyways, it seems that the push for the new(original) name for Hercules is back.

More and more, I am seeing Hercules being referred to as "Herakles" or "Heracles"

If I remember Edith Hamilton's books correctly, she referred to him as "Heracles"

in this Children's edition of Greek Myths, he's referred to as Herakle. OK, fine...

I have no problem with that.

My problem is, WHEN was this decided? Most people know Hercules as, well, HerCULES.

Even Disney has acknowledged him as Hercules. (to the smart readers, this is where my main point would be. Disney has named Hercules as a "Greek Hero" when in Greek, Herakles is the right term and Hercules is the ROMAN myth. But Disney has made Hercules a Greek Myth....)

The problem with these newer books is that they do not make footnotes nor side notes that "Herakles" is also "Hercules".

So, if our kids grow up, and they talk to people of another generation about Herakles (oh yeah, it'll come up in casual conversations, just like HARPOON!!), would the older generation know that the kids are talking about "Hercules" or try to correct them and say, "look, it's NOT Herakles, OK? It's Hercules."

I can see my kids arguing with them back and then they'll say, "oh yeah? Well, I am going to go home and ask my papo and he'll come and straighten you out."

And that I'd have to get involved somehow and have to go correct someone that it is actually Herakles. And chances are, that person would be 6'4" and weigh 260 lbs and beat me up like Hercules....

I am not sure who the nimrod was that decided that it would be Hercules...

Apparently, there was a meeting and somebody decided that it would from now on, be Herakles instead of Hercules. But remember, it is also Heracles... (this is based on my own "Herakles, the conspiracy theory" theory)

but either way, I've missed the memo and nobody bothered to inform me about the perm. change...

So, what does Herackles (pronounced, "HER-ACALS", OK, not really, it is Her-rack-lees. I just had a quick thought, the person that made it Hercules might have been hard of hearing and thought Her-rack-lees sounded like Her-kwe-lees...*rolling my eyes here...) has to do with China? Well, nothing, really....

btw, re: the hearing problem? It happens, try saying "Mashed or Baked" really fast in a crowded room and see if you get stared at. LOL

I wonder what Agatha Christie would do with the "Hercule Poirot"

probably wouldn't care less....LOL

Herakle(no S) Poirot....hmmmmmmmmmm....

but then again, he's Belgian, not Greek.

Known for his Waffles and fries, not Super human strength and powerful thighs

great at sleuthing, not slashing

Deductive reasoner, not seductive seasoner (Herc was quite a playboy, it seemed)

and really, Hiscule or Hisakles would make more sense than Her, wouldn't it?

(OK, to those that are more cultured than I am, they would know that Hercules is Roman and Heracles/Herakles is Greek. I know that. But I am talking in terms of general population's conception and knowledge of the said Hercules/Heracles and let's face it, Greek and Roman Gods often get confused and crossed-over. LOL

I am also blabbering about how the the popular medium can mislead the general public. In this case, Disney.

They named him "Hercules" the more popular name but placed him in a Greek Myth.

The Hercules/Heracles argument is done tongue in cheek but it is done on purpose, just in case I have critics out there.LOL )

hmmmmmmm

OK, China...

Apparently, the "Ching" Dynasty, the last Dynasty of China is now spelled "Qing" Dynasty.

But, the pronunciation is STILL the same. And now, they have gone and ruined the rule of "Q" that usually goes with "U"...

"Q" now has a "CH" sound...

I know why they changed it. The Ching Dynasty sounds and looks a lot like the Chin' Dynasty.

The main dialect of Chinese (Mandarin) has four basic sounds.

Chin' has the second sound and is a completely different word from the "Ching", which has the first sound.

The other reason is debated underground.

The "Chings" were a nomadic tribe from the north that came and conquered China's Ming Dynasty.

The Chin's and the Ming's and a few other dynasties had the "Han" as the main Chinese Ethnic group.

As a matter of fact, in this day and age, there still seem to be quite a bit of people that still want to differentiate themselves....separating the Hans from the Chings. And to be honest with you, they all look alike to me...and I can say that because I am Chinese. Actually, these are true observation facts and anyone can say it, really. LOL

And really, it's good to know and understand it from a historically point of view. But in this day and age, it really is not necessary to separate the different ethnic groups(Although I am sure there will be those that will say to me, "oh yeah, does that mean that you don't want the Tibetans to become independent? And what about the Mongols, they declared independence!" That is a whole separate issue and too political....).

We all need to work together with one another in this global village...anyways...

a third reason is also that the "Ching" have been associated with that negative word: Chink

But to me, why would it matter...because it's not like they changed the pronunciation of "CH" when using "Q"....

and what's funny, according to my underground source, the people that argued that "Ching" be changed to "Qing" so the association of "Chink" would not be linked (yeah, right!) are actually mainly asserted by the "han" chinese...

confucious yet? me too...

so, if someone were to call me a "Qink"...I would still know that he/she called me that, wouldn't I????

Anyways, this is all making me wanting some Qeese...

and if I were to read a fairy tale to the kids, would I say, "Prince Qarming??"

The fastest animal in the world is a...Qeetah

Please Qime in anytime, I look forward to any Qit Qat.

Speaking of fairy tales or faery tales depending on if you were at the meeting and missed the memo or not...

(and really, there are way too many pundits out there making these unnecessary Qanges out there, if you ask me...*rolling my eyes here again)

There are a lot of "experts" out there bashing faerie tales these days....

OK, I can see their points.

There really isn't such thing as "happily ever after"

And the stories are too "pretty and perfect"

Actually....

if we were to nitpick a bit...Fairy Tales actually had poignant origins.

The original Anderson tales and Brothers Grimm tales frequently had raw and grotesque descriptions in them.

For example, Cinderella's step sisters had parts of their feet cut off when they were trying on the glass slipper. Snow White's hunter brought the queen a hog's heart and liver(or was it kidney) and she unabashedly laughed her evil laugh and ate the organs aforementioned.

It took later "sQolars" to clean up the fairy tales and made them more perfect.

It really took Walt Disney to give it the nice polished stories.

I can understand that there will be folks that will argue that the Qildren do NOT need to read about the hearts and livers being ingested by the evil queen. But back in those days, they needed to educate the kids and they believed in shocking them.

My own take on fairy tales is that I like it.

I read quite a bit of them while I was growing up and it nourished the romantic side of me.

We all need to have some sort of dreams and romanticism to help keep us vital and keep us young in our hearts. To dismiss the fairy tales is to kill the dreams. And I am not just talking about the mainstream fairy tales, I am speaking of any types of fairy tales from anywhere...

I am not saying to NOT to be practical. We should be, as parents, to help guide them and remind them that happily ever after is very hard work.

These days, there are too many romanticisms lost. Youtube and Ur Foot phones abound and people are too busy watQing the latest craze on these mediums. They want the latest shocking video vs. a prince or princess or even Herakles in their lives.

they want that instant gratification of their peers. But they don't want to work too hard at them.

They are faced with a world in Qaos and they cannot escape it with all the medias(outlets) out there.

Who would believe that Cinderella can have a Prince Qarming when a lot of what they read and absorb out there are killers on the loose, Qild molesters being set free, shooting right around the sQool corner...

it's sad...

Speaking of Romanticism, Latin seems to be making a nice comeback. That's nice to know.

I enjoyed writing papers on them and Qanging all my "U's" to "V's" and then argVed my point on why I needed to.

In classical Latin, "V" was more like a "W" and was sometimes pronounced as a soft "Weh"

So, when we pictvre the valiant Jvlivs Orange Caesar Salad (and some ervdite pvndits ovt there may say "Cesar") saying "Vēnī, vīdī, vīcī" we can argvably state that he might have sovnded more like Porky Pig because it wovld have sovnded like: Weeni, Weedi, WeeQi

I came, I wrote, I blabbed....