Mah-Jong and Tai-Chi (Misinterpretation Victims)

Mah-Jong and Tai-Chi (victims of misinterpretation)

Who first translated Tai-Chi? I don't know.
The translation is a classic example of misinterpretation.

What, if anything, does “Extreme Ultimate” mean to anybody?
“Extreme Ultimate” is a pair of adjectives: 太 极 or 太 ?. It’s like
saying something being “highest lightest”; meaningless.

Philosophically, Tai-Chi is the ultimate place of origin, sometimes
referred to as the Great Emptiness or Void which is unknown and unseen
as to exactly location.

The two words are Tai , 太, and Chi, ? (or 极). Tai is the birthing
place, because 太 in Chinese is known as the vagina of a woman. It is
used in common swearing term by young and old, male and female. They
all know what that means. The symbol is that of two legs and a baby or
something. Chi can be a modifier, ultimate, or an object as in 北极,
North Pole. The two words, Tai-Chi (太 极), together can be a metaphor
for primal universal origin representing a concept of an ultimate
birthplace where ten-thousand and everything else began.

Now when 2 words 太 极 can mean that much philosophically, one can
certainly consider the possibility and probability that 15 words (东南西
北, east south west north, and 中 发 白 plus four more words for flowers
that match the four seasons 春夏秋冬, spring summer autumn winter) have
some meaning more than just “Cash, String and Myriad” in the mahjong
set.

Cash, string and Myriad sound like Extreme Ultimate to me, basically
meaningless with no correlation to the unique features of mahjong or
its method of play, nor the game as a whole conceptually.

Mah-Jong has a far-more deeper meaning. The game was first played by
the literate elite. The terminology of the game today has been muddled
at later time by slang, ignorance and various dialects in different
regions of China and then by Westerners who nicknamed symbols, like
Dragons, on their own.

Western influence was so penetrating 150 years ago, what was
translated, interpreted and written, right or wrong, by beginners to
the game while they were groping their way around for bits and scraps
of information then, still stands.

What a pity...
+++++++++++++++++
Cheers.....al
.