The Story of Mr. Chabuduo: Almost the Same | 致命的差不多先生

The Chinese phrase "差不多" (chàbùduō) is highly useful in daily conversation, meaning "almost," "nearly," or "more or less the same". Literally translating to "lack not much," it can be used to describe time, describe distances, make comparisons between objects, or act as a response when someone guesses something correctly.The meaning of this phrase is perfectly illustrated by the story of Mr. Chabuduo, a man whose surname was "Cha" and given name was "buduo". Throughout his life, his philosophy that everything is "almost the same" led to continuous problems:As a child, his mother asked him to buy brown sugar, but he bought white sugar instead, crying and arguing that the two were almost the same.In school, he constantly mixed up the Chinese character for "ten" (十) with the character for "thousand" (千). When his teacher became angry, he simply replied that the two characters were almost the same.One day, he was scheduled to take an 8:00 train to Shanghai, but he arrived at 8:02. After missing the train, he comforted himself by saying that going to Shanghai today or tomorrow was almost the same. However, he was upset and could not understand why the train couldn't simply wait two minutes for him, reasoning that 8:00 and 8:02 were almost the same.When he fell ill, he sent for a doctor named Dr. Wáng, but a veterinarian named Dr. Wāng was brought instead. Remaining true to his mindset, Mr. Chabuduo accepted the situation and stated that a doctor and a vet are almost the same.Because of this mix-up, Mr. Chabuduo died. His final words before passing away were that a living person and a dead person are almost the same.