Methods To Avoid Offence
There were three ways to avoid using a taboo character:
- Changing the character to another one which usually was a synonym or sounded like the character being avoided. For example, the Xuanwu Gate (玄武門：the Black Warrior Gate) of the Forbidden City was renamed as "Shenwu" (神武門：Gate of Divine Might) in order to avoid the Kangxi Emperor's name Xuanye (玄燁).
- Leaving the character as a blank.
- Omitting a stroke in the character, especially the final stroke.
Compare to the writing of G-d or L-rd in Judaism.
Read more about this topic: Naming Taboo
Famous quotes containing the words methods, avoid and/or offence:
“All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. To avoid that evil, government will redouble the causes of it; and then it will become inveterate and incurable.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“Isabella. Yet show some pity.
Angelo. I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismissed offence would after gall.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)