三月不知肉味

Chinese

		three	moon; month	to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if	meat; flesh	taste
simp. and trad. (三月不知肉味)		三	月	不知	肉	味

Etymology

A quote from the Analects of Confucius. When Confucius was in Qi, he heard the Shao music, and for three months he did not know the taste of meat. He said, "I never knew music could reach this level of excellence!"

Literally: Did not know the taste of meat for three months.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): sān yuè bùzhī ròu wèi
(Zhuyin): ㄙㄢㄩㄝˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄖㄡˋ ㄨㄟˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): saam¹ jyut⁶ bat¹ zi¹ juk⁶ mei⁶

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: sān yuè bùzhī ròu wèi
  - Zhuyin: ㄙㄢㄩㄝˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄖㄡˋ ㄨㄟˋ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: san yueh bujy row wey
  - IPA ^(key): /sän⁵⁵ y̯œ⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵ ʐoʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ u̯eɪ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: saam¹ jyut⁶ bat¹ zi¹ juk⁶ mei⁶
  - Yale: sāam yuht bāt jī yuhk meih
  - Cantonese Pinyin: saam¹ jyt⁹ bat⁷ dzi¹ juk⁹ mei⁶
  - Guangdong Romanization: sam¹ yud⁶ bed¹ ji¹ yug⁶ méi⁶
  - IPA ^(key): /säːm⁵⁵ jyːt̚² pɐt̚⁵ t͡siː⁵⁵ jʊk̚² mei̯²²/

Idiom

三月不知肉味

describes a situation in which one is totally captivated by whatever activity is taking place; totally enraptured
- 有人認為北島在這本書中沒有表現出思想之美，但那是評論家的事，對於我等普通讀者來說，這樣的文字，已經足以三月不知肉味了。 [MSC, trad.]
  有人认为北岛在这本书中没有表现出思想之美，但那是评论家的事，对于我等普通读者来说，这样的文字，已经足以三月不知肉味了。 [MSC, simp.]
  From: 2005: 秋水 (Qiushui), 二00四文化年鉴评书：生活的美丽与哀愁 (Culture year 2004 literary criticism: the beauty and sadness of life)
  Yǒurén rènwéi Běi Dǎo zài zhè běn shū zhōng méiyǒu biǎoxiàn chū sīxiǎng zhī měi, dàn nà shì pínglùnjiā de shì, duìyú wǒděng pǔtōng dúzhě lái shuō, zhèyàng de wénzì, yǐjīng zúyǐ sān yuè bùzhī ròu wèi le. [Pinyin]
  There are some who believe that Bei Dao has not demonstrated a clarity of thought in this book; I will leave that to the reviewers and critics. However, for ordinary readers like me, this kind of writing was sufficient to keep me totally enraptured.