drunk as mud, the current understanding is that he is so drunk that he is paralyzed into a ball, and he can't help it; Describe what it looks like to be drunk.
When it comes to "drunk as mud", do you think of the saying "mud can't hold up the wall"? "The mud can't support the wall" means that the mud is too thin to stick to the wall. It is generally used as a metaphor for people who cannot become a climate or see the world due to poor ability or low level. If you connect the two, there's a good chance you're misleading. The "mud" in "mud can't support the wall" refers to thin mud, so can the "mud" of "drunk like mud" also be understood as "thin mud"?
Before we ask this question, we must first understand the origin and background of the idiom "drunk as mud". According to the record of "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the Legend of Confucianism, Zhou Ze", who was in charge of the rituals of the temple, led by example and often slept in the palace after fasting. Of the three hundred and sixty days a year, Zhou Ze was fasting for 359 days, and although he did not fast for another day, he was drunk like mud.
But what exactly does the word "mud" refer to? In ancient texts, "mud" is sometimes used to describe the soft, viscous state of an object, such as mud, mire, etc. This description bears some resemblance to a person's drunken state, as drunk people tend to appear weak and unable to control themselves.
But in fact, the true meaning of the word "mud" in "drunk as mud" is far from that. According to Zhang Dai, a historian and writer in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, in his encyclopedic work "Night Sailing Boat", it was recorded: ".There are insects in the South China Sea, boneless, and the name is mud. If you are in the water, you will live, and if you are out of water, you will be drunk”。The interpretation of "mud" here is that of a bug that grows in the South China Sea, which has no bones and will sink into the mud once it leaves the water. This characteristic is very similar to the state of a person after being drunk, so the ancients used "drunk as mud" to describe the state of drunkenness.
In addition, according to the "Kangxi Dictionary", it is recorded that ".Mud, also known as insects, goes out of the East Sea, and when it gets water, it lives, and when it loses water, it is like mud. Although the explanation here is slightly different from that recorded in "Night Sailing Boat", it also refers to a kind of worm. Therefore, it also corroborates the saying that "mud refers to insects" from the side.
This explanation not only enriches our understanding of the idiom "drunk like mud", but also shows the unique charm of ancient Chinese in expression. A simple word "mud" hides such a profound cultural connotation and vivid story behind it. This explanation not only reveals the cultural connotation behind the idiom, but also gives us a deeper understanding of the expressions in ancient Chinese.