BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?

Subject: Well, how do you prnounce it?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 12:26 PM

I know it's not "feng shui"--that would be tooo easy, wouldn't it? And I'm pretty certain it's not "fung shway" either: even in the more preposterous Chinese transliterations it would be hard to find an excuse to spell "ay" as "ui". I've heard real Chinese (or Chinese-speakers) say the words, but it's been many years, and it wasn't fashionable at the time, so it didn't sink in properly. But I think it's something like this: the "e" in "feng" is similar to the "e" in "the" (not quite "u" or "er"), and the "ui" is like what you'd get if you said "oi" with your lips in the "u" position instead if the "o" position, sort of "er-ee" diphthong.

And how can I use this knowledge to improve my performance? I should come clean and say that I think FS is 50% good design, 50% good psychology and 50% inscrutable oreintal mystical BS. Just so you won't be tempted to deliver any serious lectures.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:19 PM

I thought it was pronouneced "Push-the-sofa-to-the-other-side-of-the-room, that's-£50-please"

Cynical? Me?

Walrus

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: GUEST,Challis
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:38 PM

Ha! 50 quid? I know someone who paid a practioner(?) 400 quid only to have them clap very loudly the negative energy away in one corner of the house!

I always understood that it IS pronounced Fungh Shway trans. "Treat me like a mushroom: keep me in the dark and feed me horse s**t".

Still, it must have something if it adds up to 150 per cent!!

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:55 PM

"feng", about the way it looks
"shui", as if it were written "shoo-ey"

My authoritative source: Pierce Brosnan, in one of those James Bond thingies . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Caitrin
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:57 PM

*shrugs* I've been told it's pronounced "Fung Shway".

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: John Routledge
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 02:05 PM

I don't suppose the practitioners care how you pronounce it as you hand over your credit card.

Geordie(in an energetic untreated corner)Broon

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Dorrie
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 02:17 PM

i thinks it "fung choy" ?? strange i know!

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 02:20 PM

Do you get egg roll with that?
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 03:23 PM

I pronounce it bool sheet. In a kinda singsong staccato voice.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 05:17 PM

Caitrin is about on the mark. "Feng" rhymes with "rung" on a ladder. Shui does sound like Shoo-ey, but condensed into one syllable, shwee. That's the old Wade-Giles system of transliterating Chinese, which only made sense half way and was therefore replaced by the Pin-yen system, which makes no sense at all. God, I hate "progress."

Right on, Walrus: you have glimpsed its inner virtue. What kills me is I came across this in the sixties when I took Hist. of China in college (no, you may not ask why I did that). Now our stupid media have discovered it forty years later and are treating it like some kind of New Dispensation. I better quit or I will (further) alienate all the tea-leaf readers, I ch'ing practicers and crystal ball starers in this Universe of discussion. Ahem. Must be going now.

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Stevangelist
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 09:27 PM

Dev-vil. (Of course, that's my fundie Bible-thumping opinion.)

May The Road Rise To Meet You,

Stevangelist

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 11:55 PM

zowee....if you get your colors analyzed, your aroma balanced, your possessions moved into harmonious alignment, your energies and aura cleansed, your soul saved, your kitchen cabinets re-faced, and your dog groomed, you'll be ready for some folk music!...and...*ahem*, I just happen to have this course in how to chic & trad...only $75 per hour, and....hey ...wait...come back......

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 12:02 AM

Feng Shui makes a whole lot of good sense, once you study up on it a bit, and it's really not that hard. You don't need to hire anyone at big $, just do some reading, and use a little common sense.

I wish to God there was more Feng Shui practiced in the layout of streets and properties in this town...it would be lovely.

Get rid of all those damned straight lines and corners and bring in some harmonious curves, I say!

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 01:09 AM

Stevangelist, I wonder if you have considered that you have stated in an international forum that is open to people of all religions, that in your opinion, the religion of those who practice Feng Shui is a product of the devil.

I think that sword cuts both ways, so maybe you want to be careful how you use it.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 03:27 AM

People, pleeeeease! If you want to start a holy war, can you do it in your own thread? I'd like to keep this one for (a) serious discussion and (b) serious b*llsh*t concerning, how you say? Feng shui.

Thank you for not smoking in my thread.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 04:06 AM

And of course there is always Kung Shui - A martial based on making people fall over incorrectly placed pieces of furniture:-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 07:10 AM

You pronounce it NONNN SENSSS.

Although the alternative pronunciation of TOE-TAL RIP-OFF is also acceptable...

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: GUEST,Giac-without-harmonious-cookie
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 07:25 AM

My last employer was really into this stuff. She changed her furnishings at home, then started on the office. The harmonious changes were so inefficient that she soon had a rebellion and had to put everything back. It looked good, it just didn't work. Her "advisor" was an electronics salesperson. Hmmmmmmm.

Mary

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 08:13 AM

Take up Kung Fu. I'm a shotokan karate type myself, but it appears that you are interested in Chinese stuff. Kung fu INCLUDES the precepts of Feng shui. It'll make a new person of you.
<>br> My rank is Go-Dan.
Jody Gibson

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 08:25 AM

...or take up the pacifist martial art of Origami- just wrap your opponent up in rolls of paper.
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 09:50 AM

Hey, guys...there's a complicated and overly expensive way of doing everything. Don't blame a system for your own faulty use of it.

All philosophies and religions contain some merit, and they (like the universe itself) all come from the same source (call it "the big bang" if you're a scientific type), so see if you can find the good in them.

It's more our prevailing political and monetary systems that I would be inclined to dismiss as TO-TAL NON-SENSE...but that's just me, and like you I have my pet peeves.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Caitrin
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 10:06 AM

I tend to agree, Little Hawk. I've been of the opinion for quite some time now that every religion holds at least some little piece of the big picture--it's just that we're all looking at little corners of it.

As for Feng Shui itself...I don't see why it has any less merit than tarot cards or runes or the I Ching or speaking in tongues.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: LR Mole
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 10:11 AM

I thought it was beng shui: falling over bar stools after too many draughts.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Matt_R
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 10:31 AM

DEFY THE RULES.

Other people's warped ideas fo what "design" should be have held back many an innovative person from achieving their dreams.

"Fuck the knuckleheads," as Brad Pitt said in Twelve Monkeys.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Caitrin
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 01:32 PM

Whoa, Matt...calm down.

Feng Shui, from what I know of it, seems more about making a space more comfortable, not about stifling creativity. A sonnet is 17 lines of iambic pentameter, but you can say whatever you want in it.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 02:25 PM

Sorry, I can't work up to a "serious" discussion of F.S. I'm all for beautifying the environment; to do it, I do not have to accept a raft of celestial bullshit about sub-terrestrial dragons, I just have to say, "What can I do to make my space my pleasant for myself and others?" Nor can I resist saying that while there is a good in most religions, you get to it by taking the "religious" part out. Not God, mind you, just "religion." I think we have enough New Age non-think of our own without scouring the world and adopting everybody else's. Oh, well, guess it's inevitable.

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 02:55 PM

Steve Parkes,

I apologise if you felt that my post was inflamatory. I tried very hard to keep it as neutral as possible under the circumstances. But I do think it's good to remind people from time to time that when they post to the Mudcat, they are not carrying on a conversation with members of their own congregation, or with their friends in their own living room. I think it's easy to forget these things sometimes.

I don't have any particular religious axe to grind myself. I'm all for people believing whatever suits them. And I'm all for people respecting the beliefs of others.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Philibuster
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 03:16 PM

I've done a bit of research on it myself (my mother is into it.) Like every other pseudoscientific/pseudoreligous philosophy, it just chooses a really complex way to explain something really simple. It's all about color balances, how the eye moves (hence why curves and softer colors are given high standing), and just plain how people react to their envirornment. Even if you don't believe in it, many Feng Shui books do have good decorating ideas in them (just avoid the astrology parts). There is no reason to pay someone to practice Feng Shui in your home, when simple common sense and a little basic pschology will suffice.

It is prounounced Fung Shwee by the way, just to stay on topic.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 03:54 PM

Confucius say "Feng Shui practitioner like painter in igloo : Always looking for angle."

-Charles Chan

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 04:15 PM

Here's a simple little example of Feng Shui in your yard. My father's method of making a path across said yard from the storage building in the back to the rear of the house is as follows: an arrow straight line (in the snow) as wide as a car from the storage building to the back door. His method for making a walking path in the forest is identical: the equivalent of a Roman road...straight as an arrow and as wide as 2 chariots. It's so goddamn ugly you have to see it to believe it.

This is in total violation of at least 2 things...Feng Shui and Nature. Have a look at natural paths, made by animals or indigenous people. They wind around, finding the most harmonious route around obstacles (which is NOT the one as straight as an arrow). They are narrow, winding, mysterious, and beautiful to look at. They require you to take a few more steps to get where you're going, and to enjoy it about 25 times as much, unless of course you are existing at the awareness level of a brick, which I admit is the case with some people.

The straight path saves them 4 seconds of time...but they have no idea what to do with it when they get there. Observe how frantic they become while waiting for the light to change...but again, they have no idea what to do once it does, except rush off to the next momentary interruption...because the fact is "they ain't goin' nowhere in the first place"! Spiritually and psychologically speaking most of them are lost. The more lost they are they faster they hurry. God forbid they should have to stop moving and actually think about what's really happening to them inside their own heart and mind.

You don't have to study anything about celestial dragons in order to be aware of simple patterns of grace and beauty, and natural flow of light, water, and energy.

If you are at the awareness level of a brick, then you will fill your environment with arrow-straight highways and fences (lots of 'em), billboards, highrise buildings, hydro poles, big square parking lots, WalMart stores, and similar ugly things...all of which are horribly contrary to Feng Shui, but make billions of dollars for a certain few people...speaking of wasting your money.

Phooey!!! I spit on your square-headed Las Vegas and L.A. "civilization" and its legacy of excess, despair and waste.

- LH (feeling really crabby, obviously...)

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: John J
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 04:46 PM

Ask Linda Snell how to pronounce it. She'll know. John

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 04:47 PM

Who is Linda Snell?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 05:14 PM

Asked & Answered

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Kim C
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 05:15 PM

I think truth can be found in many places if you are only open to seeing it. Feng shui is about manipulating your environment for your own personal betterment. What's wrong with that? I don't see anything religious about it.

The PBS program I watched said fungshway.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 05:27 PM

Knuck the fuckleheads, Chicken Charlie. My eyes must be getting tired. Answered where, when, and by whom?

I don't see anything religious about it either. It's the American politicial system that strikes me as religious...I mean talk about an act of faith! "Just vote for me, son, and YOU WILL BE HE-EALE-DDD!!!"

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Jande
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 05:30 PM

LH...

I have two thing tosay about FS, both contradictory. Personally the curved line relaxes me, and sharp angles make me tense. A mix of both types in good balance makes me feel somewhat uplifted, less tired, slightly less relaxed. I prefer paths that wander. the distance is shorter because there is so much of interest to catch the eye and the ear on the way... A straight path always seems to take longer because it tends to be boring.

Having said that I remember reading *somewhere* that a university paid a designer quite a bit of money for a set of beautiful pathways that sprawed and twisted their way between all the university buildings. Unfortunately the students were not using them.

The administration hired a new company to find out why and fix the problem. This they did and the students began to use the new pathways. Administration applauded. What did the new company do that the old one ddn't? They observed the students as they streaed form one class to another, from one building to another and that's where they made the new pathways.

It may be one of the oldest design principles, but "form follows function" is still the most practical. (And so far I don't think even Feng Shui can argue with that)

BTW, you remember the horrible stairway that turns a right angle corner and heads directly for the front entrance door stopping about four feet from it in the entrance hall at our place? We hung a beautiful windchime there, and now have a living plant on one of the steps to ease the forward motion of those dominating steps.

Well, we're talking now about removing the bottom eight steps, turning them around to face the side wall, and creating a larger landing at the "U-turn". That way the side of the stairwell will face the entrance door, the hall will gain an extra three feet in width, and we will no longer feel we are about to be sucked into the vortex that is the unfinished upstairs the minute we step through the front door. Who knows when, if ever it will get done (like all the other big jobs around here (finishing the upstairs, opening the pool, scraping the gravel back onto the driveway, etc.) but it makes me sigh with relief that I will not have to live with that monstrosity for the rest of my days.

btw, I used to pronounce it Feng (as in length) Shway, until LH and Hes taught me proper. ;`)

~ Jande

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 05:38 PM

Sounds good, Jande. Forest paths are the best, because they happen naturally, bit by bit. University paths take a bit more planning and observation to get them right, judging by your story.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 07:23 PM

Li'l Hawk--

What I meant to say was that the original question was dealt with by Jeremiah, Philibuster & me. Remember the line from "Hunting of the Snark"--"What I tell you three times is true."

I have no quarrel with processes like the one in Jande's post, which BTW was a gem. FS, however, isn't content with the applications; it also posits the existence of spiritual forces (subterranean dragons, etc.) which supposedly cause all this. Maybe there are three options. The unfree soul walks only on the straight path laid out by THE AUTHORITIES and never dares stray. The semi-free soul follows a more pleasant route but passes the buck to spiritual forces for making the decision for them. This is still bondage, or at least the use of a crutch. If you are free of conventions you take a pleasant path and own the decision yourself, saying, "I liked that," not "Terrestrial dragons made me do it."

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: mooman
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 07:48 PM

When watching BBC's Ground Force I usually pronounce it "A nice pair of Dimmocks"!

mooman

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 09:15 PM

We across the Western Ocean can only guess, and reading between the lines perhaps envy as well ....

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Stevangelist
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 12:48 AM

Maybe asking some Chinese mystic to re-arrange your furniture so it is harmonious with the universe or whatever...

...will be possible when the majority of society is mindful that people like me are ENTITLED to our OPINION (which is exactly what I stated it to be). I did not ask CarolC or anyone else to agree or disagree with me... I simply made a statement of my PERSONAL viewpoint. I am saddened to think that my position as a Christian is the one that is being mocked and jabbed at. If I were to say anything like CarolC's "congregation" or LittleHawk's "you will be HE-EA-LL-ED!" comments in reference to Zen Bhuddism or Wicca or anything else, I would be blasted as intolerant. I NEVER even insinuated that "dev-vil" was FACT or even had to be taken seriously. Again, it was my OPINION.

May The Road Rise To Meet You,

Stevangelist

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 01:02 AM

Stevangelist, I think my comments could be applied to any set of religious beliefs. Not just Christian beliefs.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 03:28 AM

Dragons and the like are part of Chinese culture, but not Western culture: I'm sure we can think of cultural equivalents. Peace and harmony are necessary, but without discord and tension life would be unbearably dull. Ah well, it takes all sorts of Mudcatters to make a Forum: it would be very tedious if we all agreed with each other. Let's look for the beams in our own eyes, and worry less about every one else's motes!

I have a lovely long garden, and I made a path in a long sweeeping curve, that takes you from the foot of the patio steps to the seat under the pergola, in a graceful S-shape. But when I walk down the garden, I step off the path and wlak in a straight line across the grass! I like angles as well; the garen is divided into two about half way down by a fence at about 70 degrees to the side; there is a little group of conifers at one (sharp) end, and the other is behind the pergola, out of sight from the house. FS says that energy becomes trapped in corners; well, that's very unscientific, but it's true in an emotional way. The conifers take over their little corner and make it feel "balanced", while the other corner feels neglected, somehow; but it's unseen, and functions as the way through to the top of the garden (the dividing fence doesn't reach the side).

Anyway, that's enough of that: if you want to talk about design, talk to my daughter!

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: mooman
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 03:29 AM

Indeed Chicken Charlie! My attempt at pronounciation might just as easily have been posted in the "What is large thread"!

mooman

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: LR Mole
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 12:39 PM

Anyone not touched by an angle will be graded on the curve.

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 10:35 PM

harlan ellison wrote a story called "seeing"
you'll find it in a collection called "strang wine"

you'll also find that some of you can and others cannot see...


then there are those who have plucked out their "offending" eye
these last two sorts pronounce feng shui (fan shwee) as "boolsheet"

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: hesperis
Date: 08 Jun 01 - 06:55 PM

In defense of Dragons...

Natural energy does flow along certain paths. Sometimes humans pay attention to those, and sometimes they don't. But the natural energy is there. The Chinese call these energies "Dragons", but that is more as a mark of respect than as an actual real Dragon... Dragon is the most powerful symbol possible to the Chinese. It represents raw natural force.

Raw natural force does exist, and if we work with it in ways that harmonize, we do feel better, and are more efficient.

Humans also have their own personal energy. That personal energy and habits, interact with the environment around us. Certain people have ways of doing things that are different than others. What you set up in your own home or work environment should be pleasing and efficient for how you work.

Feng Shui at it's best, offers a way of seeing how we use the systems around us to get things done. At it's worst, it is an impostition of rules that may not work for our particular situation. Blindly following any rule is not likely to get the best results. And if you are paying for it in money as well as time and effort, then you have every right to call it a ripoff, if it does not take your own personal systems into account.

As always, truly understanding it enough to use it well, would take work. I doubt that any Feng Shui consultant can really help you. They do not know the way you like to do things. And it IS your space!

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From:
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 11:48 AM

I am fascinated by it and read a lot of the more popular books on it. I frankly haven't come across some of the interpretations of it mentioned here. It is a way for energy to move. It stresses fresh air, sunlight, and especially, lack of clutter. It is not a religion. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Feng Shui: how do you prnounce it?
From: Shields Folk
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 12:47 PM

Stevangelist, May The Road Rise To Meet You. Thats walking up hill isn't it?

Subject: RE: BS:Feng Shui : how do you prnounce it?
From: Shields Folk
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 12:51 PM

Oh yes, and I'm with the lodda b****cks school on Feng Shui