[semioden]

un étudiant américain fait un cadeau d'une horloge à une grand mére chinoise habitant los angeles .
la grand mére refuse le cadeau pretextant qu'elle n'en a pas besoin .
en cherchant un peu , l'étudiant découvre que le son de mort et horloge sont analogues en chinois .
il existe semble-t-il , une expression " envoyer une horloge à quelqu'un" qui signiferait souhaiter la mort de quelqu'un .
la grand mére a donc cru que l'offreur du cadeau souhaitait sa mort .

existe-t-il une expression analogue en japonais ?

[Sir.Gauvain]

Juste pour le fun, je n'ai pas pu résister :

1/　大きなのっぽの古時計　おじいさんの時計
百年いつも動いていた　御自慢の時計さ
おじいさんのうまれた朝に　買ってきた時計さ
今はもう動かない　その時計
百年休まずにチクタクチクタク
おじいさんと一緒にチクタクチクタク
今はもう動かない　その時計

2/　何でも知ってる古時計　おじいさんの時計
綺麗な花嫁やってきた　その日も動いてた
嬉しい事も悲しい事も　みな知ってる時計さ
今はもう動かない　その時計
百年休まずにチクタクチクタク
おじいさんと一緒にチクタクチクタク
今はもう動かない　その時計

3/　真夜中にベルが鳴った　おじいさんの時計
お別れの時が来たのを　皆に教えたのさ
天国へ昇るおじいさん　時計ともお別れ
今はもう動かない　その時計
百年休まずにチクタクチクタク
おじいさんと一緒にチクタクチクタク
今はもう動かない　その時計

et en anglais :

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride.
But it stopp'd short, Never to go again,
When the old man died..　

*Chorus
Ninety years without slumbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
Tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopp'd short, Never to go again
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know,
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four when he entered the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride.
But it stopp'd short, Never to go again,
When the old man died..

My grandfather said, that of those he could hire,
Not a servant so faithful he found:
For it wasted no time, and had but one desire,
At the close of each week to be wound.
And it kept in its place, not a frown upon its face,
And its hands never hung by its side;
But it stopp'd short, Never to go again,
When the old man died..

It rang an alarm in the dead of the night,
And alarm that for years had been dumb;
And we know that his spirit was pluming its flight,
That his hour of departure had come.
Still the clock kept the time, with a soft muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side;
But it stopp'd short, Never to go again,
When the old man died..

[eve]

Psss gauvain... http://www.forumjapon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1156

[Den]

Il y a bien le chiffre quatre, qui se dit "shi", et qui est donc homophone de "shi" la mort...

Un chiffre de sinistre présage, donc.

Souvenir d'un reportage TV :Quand l'équipe de foot japonaise est venue en France pour la coupe du monde, une personne a opportunément conseillé à l'hôtel où la jeune équipe résidait d'éviter de les placer dans la chambre numéro 4.
Bonne suggestion...
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Rapide, tel le vent / Calme, tels les bois / Impétueux, tel le feu / Inébranlable, telle la montagne