The origin of "Guide"

We are quite familiar with the word guide, which means a metaphor for the basis for identifying directions ("Modern Chinese Dictionary"), such as an action guide and an examination guide. In the past two years, a new word has appeared - pointing north. Its meaning and usage are very similar to that of a guide. For example, newbies point north, purchasing points north, market points north, etc. So, are these two words the same or different?

The emergence of "Zhibei" originated from a popular saying in recent years - "Can't find North". "Can't find the north" is a common daily expression in northern dialects. For example, there is a saying in the author's hometown of Shangqiu, Henan, "If you can't find the north, don't look for it." This interesting saying became popular in 1997. In 1997, Mr. Zhao Qiang, now the planning director of Beijing Yatuo Jingcheng Marketing Planning Company, published the long business war novel "Can't Find the North", which became the best-selling financial novel in the country in 1997 and was quickly adapted into a 20-episode TV series. "Can't Find North". Due to the spread of novels and TV series, as well as their rapid popularity among readers and audiences, the phrase "cannot find the north" became popular all over the country for a while, which brought an opportunity for the creation of "pointing to the north". This sentence vividly expresses the ideological confusion of the young generation in the material age. The sentence structure is lively, novel, and playful, and is widely quoted by today's young people. In order to solve the confusion of finding "North", people imitated the word formation of "guide" and created a corresponding new word - Zhibei, which means to point out the direction for people who are confused to find "North". It can be seen that the semantics of "pointing to the north" comes from the popular saying "can't find the north", and the word formation is indeed an imitation of "guide".

"North" and "South" have opposite meanings, but "Zhibei" and "Guide" have similar meanings. This aroused the interest of young people who are seeking novelty and difference, and they were immediately widely used. And became popular. With people's use, the meaning of "Zhibei" has expanded from the original ideological guidance to guidance in all aspects of social life. It is basically the same as the guide in semantics, and because of its inherent specialness It means that it has replaced the status of the guide in many aspects and occasions. Please see the following comparisons of examples:

1. Golden Autumn Mobile Phone Shopping Guide (Today's Quotation Column of Pacific Computer Website)--Boutique Shopping Guide.

2. Internet Guide (name of Life Times column) - Internet Guide (name of column of China Bond Information Network)

3. Recruitment Guide - Job Search Guide (these two Each example comes from the website of the Business Administration Consulting Beijing Center)

4. Audiovisual Guide to the North (from the "Audiovisual Guide to the North Series" published by People's Posts and Telecommunications Publishing House)--Rating Guide

5. Beginner's Guide to the North (name of the Sina Photography World column) - Beginner's Guide (Shanghai Hotline SMS Center)

6. Travel's Guide to the North (Central South University Xiangya Medical College website) - Travel Guide ( China Travel News Column Name)

From the above examples, we can see that "Guide" and "Zhibei" are equivalent in meaning. However, the difference between the two is also obvious, mainly reflected in the two. Aspects: First, the guide appeared early, with a wide range of users and a wide range of uses. Zhibei appeared late. The users are mainly among the special group of teenagers, and the scope of use is mainly close to the life fields of young people, such as the Internet, film and television, fashion, etc. . 2. "Guide" is more formal and serious, while "Zhibei" is more casual and relaxed. People use "Guide" and "Zhibei" selectively in different styles and occasions. For example:

7. 2002 College Entrance Examination Application Guide

8. Chinese Agriculture Guide

9. Complete Rookie Guide to the North (a popular online booklet)

10. Millennium MM's guide to fame (reported by the online game "Millennium")

The two cases 7 and 8 refer to the college entrance examination and agriculture information, which are more formal and serious, while the two cases 9 and 10 The basic operating skills of the Internet and games referred to are informal and relaxed topics, so the former is used as "guide" and the latter is used as "pointing north".

As a popular new word, "Zhibei" has a poor degree of solidification and has the characteristics of a clutch word. It can insert elements between two morphemes. The inserted elements are usually the particles "LE" and "GUO". There are also attributive words to meet the needs of colloquialism and add fun, relaxed and joking meaning, but do not change the original overall meaning. Although the use of inserting elements in the middle of this word is still rare, the few examples at present can be seen that its use is good in terms of semantic understanding and rhetorical effect. For example:

11. ...I was taking a walk on the land but I didn’t know who to ask for directions. "Peach Blossom Tribe" by Liu Zheng, published by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House

12. I have already pointed him north

13. That time he pointed north to me once, which made me Understand a lot.

(Note: Examples 12 and 13 come from the conversations of some netizens on the Sina forum.)

It is precisely because of the meaning and connotation of "Guide to the North" and the meaning of "Guide" in some aspects. Equivalence, as well as the flexibility of the structural form of "Zhibei", make the originally fixed structural form of "Guide" also flexible, and elements can also be inserted between the two morphemes of "Zhi" and "南". However, due to its strong solidification, it is not as flexible as "Zhibei". Currently, it is common to insert the quantifier "ge" between "Zhi" and "South", and the original overall meaning of the word does not change. For example:

12. Expert: Can’t find the north to point to the south.--The subtitle of Yahoo China·Fenghuo column on June 21

Imitation words are made from Chinese vocabulary. A common form of expression, the new words and the original words generally explain different aspects, such as "second wife" and "second master", "brother" and "sister", each of which assumes one aspect semantically, and does not Repeat crosswise. "Guide" and "Zhibei" are basically the same in semantics and can be used interchangeably in some aspects. However, the subtle differences between the two in expression and style make "Guide" and "Zhibei" shoulder different interpretive tasks and complement each other in some aspects. At the same time, the emergence of newly coined words has also brought new vitality to the original words. The impact of the flexibility of the structural form of "Zhibei" on "Guide" is an example.