# 见人送顶高帽子



## 昴流

I'm translating a little text for an exam and I don't understand how I could translate this sentence. It's a little story about the origin of the common saying "高帽子".

老师对他们说：“现在的社会啊，性格太直了不行，*见人送顶高帽子*，就可以了。”

When you meet someone, give them a high hat, and it will be quite good..?

Thank you for the help.


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## viajero_canjeado

Seems like the teacher's making a tongue-in-cheek comment on the current society. He says: "in this day and age you can't be too straightforward, but you'll see people giving high hats as gifts, no problem there."

Maybe it's a rueful observation of the distance society has travelled from the way of the natural and true to that of the embellished and adorned.

In any case, I'm sure some native speakers have better ideas.


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## YangMuye

I think 帽子 is something you put on one's head and can be seen by everyone, something like title.
扣(...的)帽子 means to put a label(of ...) on somebody, 給某人戴高帽 means to flatter someone.


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## Ghabi

As Muye says above, 送高帽 means "to flatter". In English "to give someone a high hat" has an opposite meaning. "In today's world, it just won't work to call a spade a spade. Flattery is the way to go."


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## Jerry Chan

YangMuye's right. 送高帽 means to flatter people.
So the sentence means "these days we can't be too straightforward. All you have to do is be generous in giving compliments."


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## 昴流

Thank you all, I got the meaning of the sentence now! But how do I translate that 见人 exactly? Is it intended like "to meet (other) people"?


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## viajero_canjeado

"to see people" is the vibe I'm getting from the sentence.

So Ghabi, Jerry, 楊先生，y'all are saying that the teacher's not being reproving at all? He's actually speaking with admiration or appreciation? I guess it just struck me as a tad sarcastic..


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## Jerry Chan

viajero_canjeado said:


> "to see people" is the vibe I'm getting from the sentence.
> 
> So Ghabi, Jerry, 楊先生，y'all are saying that the teacher's not being reproving at all? He's actually speaking with admiration or appreciation? I guess it just struck me as a tad sarcastic..



Yes, I do agree that he's probably being sarcastic. But it's not very clear. We'd better not interpret it ourselves in our translation.
If he used "拍馬屁" instead of "送高帽", then it definitely is sarcastic


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## YangMuye

送高帽 is not truly compliment, but also not malicious, I think.
It shows a sense of humour.


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## Jerry Chan

昴流 said:


> Thank you all, I got the meaning of the sentence now! But how do I translate that 见人 exactly? Is it intended like "to meet (other) people"?



Hi 昴流,
 见人x = 見到人就x
e.g.
他見人就打 - He hit everyone he met.

见人送顶高帽子 means to flatter everyone you meet. That's why I used "generous."


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## xiaolijie

In looking up 高帽, I came across the expression 给她笠上高帽. 
Is 笠上 here a verb? and the expression has the same meaning as 给她戴上高帽? 

Thanks,


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## Jerry Chan

xiaolijie said:


> In looking up 高帽, I came across the expression 给她笠上高帽.
> Is 笠上 here a verb? and the expression has the same meaning as 给她戴上高帽?
> 
> Thanks,



Yes, but it's Cantonese.
笠 means to 'cover'
People wear a hat to cover part of their head, so 戴帽 is the same as 笠帽 in Cantonese.


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## xiaolijie

Thank you, Jerry, 我真的要给你笠上高帽啦!
It's great to know that it's Cantonese, because I couldn't find it (as a verb) in all dictionaries I've looked up.


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## frank Chan

xiaolijie said:


> Thank you, Jerry, 我真的要给你笠上高帽啦!
> It's great to know that it's Cantonese, because I couldn't find it (as a verb) in all dictionaries I've looked up.


 
xiaolijie, I would like to let you know, if you say: 我真的要给你笠上高帽啦!
I do not know what do you mean, because the two reassons:
first, 笠 is a noun, if you want to take a hat to someone on sb head, you should use 戴。
second, 我真的要给你戴上高帽啦!, if you said like this, that is right in sentence structure, but I am not sure what do you want to express, maybe you should say, 我真的要送你一顶高帽戴戴啦!, the meaning of this sentence I said is that "I should flatter you now.", of course this is a joking sentence, you know, sorry for my poor English, but I just hope to help you.


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## Jerry Chan

Hi frank,

I was explaining to xiaolijie what the Cantonese phrase 笠帽 means and she just joked with it. It's not for real.
But now that you mention it, I'd like to add a couple of remarks.
1. 高帽似乎送出去或派出去就可以了，毋須理會對方戴不戴。笠高帽則似是廣東人不太正規的用法。
2. 送高帽行為一般不用在第一身。"我要向你送高帽"這句話聽起有點滑稽，其實說句感謝就可以了。（當然，xiaolijie只是說說笑） 
3. 我始終對flatter這個字有保留，總覺得比送高帽多了點企圖，帶點不懷好意。


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## frank Chan

hi, Jerry, 
I am sorry that I do not know what the 笠帽 is, you said it was Cantonese.
I just know a little about Cantonese, as I would like to listen the music of BEYOND, I had been visited Guangzhou 5 years ago, so I know some words like:
小心上落(I saw this phrase on the bus, when I saw it for the first time, I am confused, I think maybe there will be something falling down from somewhere._)= 小心上下_
I think they are same in many places for 落 and 下, like:
落车=下车
落雨=下雨
and so on.
So, if we do not see the same character we wrote on the paper, I even think Cantonese and Mandarin are different languages absolutely before.
I mean that Chinese is a deep languages, it includes so many different region or country languages, eg: Taiwan, Singapore, and so on.


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## frank Chan

about this sentence by thread starter 昴流
老师对他们说：“现在的社会啊，性格太直了不行，*见人送顶高帽子*，就可以了。”
it means we should be tactful in the nowadays society. 
So, say something that somebody want to listen to, or that somebody love to listen to, so that you can do something smoothly.


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## xiaolijie

> 我始終對flatter這個字有保留，總覺得比送高帽多了點企圖，帶點不懷好意。


I agree, I'd say "to be complimentary/ to pay compliments" is a more positive alternative.




> 我真的要给你戴上高帽啦!, if you said like this, that is right in sentence structure, but I am not sure what do you want to express, maybe you should say, 我真的要送你一顶高帽戴戴啦!, the meaning of this sentence I said is that "I should flatter you now."


To me, the two sentences mean very much the same, and what I meant to say was _"I must really take off my hat to you!",_ meaning _"I really admire you!"_
(Note that in Chinese you _give a hat to someone_ but in English, you _take your hat off_ to show admiration! )


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## frank Chan

xiaolijie said:


> (Note that in Chinese you _give a hat to someone_ but in English, you _take your hat off_ to show admiration! )


 
Thank you very much for  your correction


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## Ghabi

xiaolijie said:


> I agree, I'd say "to be complimentary/ to pay compliments" is a more positive alternative.


It's actually more like flattery. Have you heard of the following old story, my dear friend?



> 俗以喜人面諛者曰「戴高帽」。有京朝官出仕於外者，往別其師。師曰：「外官不易為，宜慎之。」其人曰：「某備有高帽一百，逢人則送其一，當不至有所齟齬也。」師怒曰：「吾輩直道事人，何須如此！」其人曰：「天下不喜戴高帽如吾師者，能有幾人歟？」師頷其首曰：「汝言亦不為無見。」其人出，語人曰：「吾高帽一百，今只九十九矣。」（清‧俞樾）


 "One who enjoys flattery is known as a 'high-hat wearer' in street talk. Once, a capital official was set for the country after being appointed as a provincial official. He went to see off his old teacher. ‘Being an official in the provinces is no easy job. Just take care’, said the teacher. ‘Don’t worry, master, I’ve prepared 100 high hats. Whenever I meet someone, I’ll hand him one of them. I suppose I can get along with people this way’, answered the official. ‘Nonsense! We’re honest men and we don’t do this sort of thing!’ rebuked the teacher. ‘But such honest men as you who hate flattery are hard to find’, said the official. ‘Well, I admit you’ve a point,’ said the teacher, nodding for approval. The official left and told others: ‘One of my hats is already gone.’"


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## Jerry Chan

Ghabi said:


> It's actually more like flattery. Have you heard of the following old story, my dear friend?
> 
> "One who enjoys flattery is known as a 'high-hat wearer' in street talk. Once, a capital official was set for the country after being appointed as a provincial official. He went to see off his old teacher. ‘Being an official in the provinces is no easy job. Just take care’, said the teacher. ‘Don’t worry, master, I’ve prepared 100 high hats. Whenever I meet someone, I’ll hand him one of them. I suppose I can get along with people this way’, answered the official. ‘Nonsense! We’re honest men and we don’t do this sort of thing!’ rebuked the teacher. ‘But such honest men as you who hate flattery are hard to find’, said the official. ‘Well, I admit you’ve a point,’ said the teacher, nodding for approval. The official left and told others: ‘One of my hats is already gone.’"



Funny story, Ghabi. 
Thanks for clearing it up.


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## xiaolijie

> I agree, I'd say "to be complimentary/ to pay compliments" is a more positive alternative.


Please note my wording above, _"a more positive alternative"_. By this I mean the Chinese phrase can be used either positively or negatively. How it is intended on a particular occasion is actually in the hand of the user, and nothing is inherently wrong with paying people compliments. 
(But even compliments, if used inappropriately and indiscriminately, can turn into flattery  )


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## Ghabi

xiaolijie said:


> I mean the Chinese phrase can be used either positively or negatively. How it is intended on a particular occasion is actually in the hand of the user.


Um um, I won't say it's neutral. It's like "to fawn on".


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## viajero_canjeado

Ghabi said:


> I won't say it's neutral. It's like "to fawn on".



Or perhaps even the colloquial "to suck up to"? That would fit for a politician trying to win over his constituents, anyway.


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## samanthalee

viajero_canjeado said:


> Or perhaps even the colloquial "to suck up to"? That would fit for a politician trying to win over his constituents, anyway.


"to suck up to" would be closer to 「巴結」 than to 「送高帽」.

「送高帽」is "piling compliments". For example:
The co-stars piled compliment on each other during the press conference.
那兩名演員在記者會上(互相送高帽/互相給對方戴高帽)。


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## YangMuye

送高帽，大概和“恭維”程度差不多，屬於沒有惡意或不好的目的，說一些可能稍稍不合事實，但好聽的話稱讚對方，讓對方开心，調節氣氛。當事兩方都不可以點破。

在中國，見人說一些好聽的話很正常。即使說話人和聽話人都知道內容有些夸張，也不會覺得有人是在“撒謊”“有不良企圖”“人品有問題”。

一般來講，“送高帽”，是間接指代的，風趣的説法。不直言“拍馬屁”，因爲有貶意。
儘管是委婉的説法，但如果用在當事人之間，仍然是很直接的。戴高帽要的是“不着痕蹟”的效果，你如果當面點破，就沒意思了。
如果你用“我在給你戴頂高帽了。”，會覺好像在說，別开心了，我在說假話呢。這樣對方就沒辦法接受你的恭維。除非是在开頑笑，否則不應該這麼說。
但如果是“我一見面就給他戴了頂高帽。”，因爲當事人不在場，所以說破就沒問題。

在中國，稍微用點假話恭維對方，跟人品沒關係。


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## 昴流

Jerry Chan said:


> Hi 昴流,
> 见人x = 見到人就x
> e.g.
> 他見人就打 - He hit everyone he met.
> 
> 见人送顶高帽子 means to flatter everyone you meet. That's why I used "generous."



Thank you very much for the explanation, I've understand everything with this


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## 昴流

Ghabi said:


> "One who enjoys flattery is known as a 'high-hat wearer' in street talk. Once, a capital official was set for the country after being appointed as a provincial official. He went to see off his old teacher. ‘Being an official in the provinces is no easy job. Just take care’, said the teacher. ‘Don’t worry, master, I’ve prepared 100 high hats. Whenever I meet someone, I’ll hand him one of them. I suppose I can get along with people this way’, answered the official. ‘Nonsense! We’re honest men and we don’t do this sort of thing!’ rebuked the teacher. ‘But such honest men as you who hate flattery are hard to find’, said the official. ‘Well, I admit you’ve a point,’ said the teacher, nodding for approval. The official left and told others: ‘One of my hats is already gone.’"



That's exactly the story I'm translating and from which that 见人送顶高帽子 comes from!


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