Why do some places call geese white turtles?

Many people will be surprised at their "superficial knowledge" when they look at this topic.

Let's talk about a joke from Changzhou people:

A Changzhou man was on a business trip and went to a restaurant to order: "Boss, a braised white turtle".

Hearing this, the restaurant owner was shocked: "What? Braised white turtle? Turtle and white turtle? How expensive is this? I have never seen a white turtle in my life. "

Changzhou people looked at the boss in shock and wanted to explain. When they are in a hurry, they forget their words and stammer. They simply dragged the boss into the yard, pointed to the ducks in the yard and said, "that, white turtle, is this brother." . . . . . "

The boss suddenly said, "Oh, goose, right?"

"Oh, yes, goose, white turtle." Changzhou people suddenly felt relieved.

"This man is really strange. He is obviously a goose. He must say something about the white turtle. I don't know where he came from. " The boss muttered to cook, while Changzhou people sat calmly at the table, waiting for their braised white turtle to serve.

The boss doesn't know that the goose is called white turtle. In fact, it is far from Changzhou, the whole Jiangnan Wuyu area, Wuxi, Suzhou, Shanghai and even some Vietnamese-speaking areas. It is still called the white turtle.

When I was a child, raising geese was called raising white turtles. I don't know why I call the goose a white turtle ― of course, white is the color of the goose. Ask a friend in the countryside, and the friend can't explain clearly, or explain it with Baidu Encyclopedia; When I ask my elders, most of them are tongue-tied. Finally, I come to a sentence: That's what the older generation calls it, which is why we call it that.

Also, in the farming era, cultural customs were handed down in this way, and word of mouth often forgot the original source and only remembered the specific usage.

It can be seen that the explanation that Baidu knows is also untenable.

Prince Xiao Tong of Zhaoming, who compiled Selected Works, was from Nanlanling (now Wujin, Changzhou). Some Taoist priests think that the feng shui in his mother's cemetery is not good, which may be bad for his eldest son. "He buried his eldest son next to the tomb for the sake of goose and other things." When the incident happened, Zhaoming died of fear. History is called the "wax goose's weariness of prayer" incident.

This wax goose, probably made of beeswax, was used by Prince Zhaoming as a funerary object for his mother. In order to eliminate disasters and reduce happiness, he was disgusted with it. It may imply the meaning of "accept me" (in Wu dialect, "goose" and "I" are homophonic), but it backfired, which made the emperor even more disgusted and eventually led to the loss of power. Miao Ruoguang, a poet in A Qing, wrote a poem, "How can you hate a wax goose?" This is the story.

Yi Zhongtian explained in Hua Da Hua that Shanghai dialect even avoids "Goose" because "Goose" and "I" are homophonic, so if you kill Goose, it becomes "Kill Me", so Shanghainese call Goose "White Turtle".

Avoiding taboos and seeking good luck are the traditions of China people. "Goose" and "I" have the same pronunciation in Wu dialect, which is probably taboo. Shanghai also belongs to Wu dialect area, but Yi Zhongtian may forget that modern Shanghainese often use "Allah" when they say "I", which is Ningbo dialect. Until A.D. 1930, most Shanghainese said "Allah". It can be seen that the goose is called a white turtle, which may be older and far from what modern Shanghainese call it. However, even Yi Zhongtian only talked about the taboo of "My Goose" and failed to explain why Goose is called White Turtle.

Perhaps, Jiangnan people call the goose a white turtle, which is more of a blessing than a taboo. After all, in the farming era, turtles are auspicious things, which can not only ask divination, but also represent longevity. If you associate "goose" with tortoise, it may imply the meaning of "I am blessed".