Slow Turtle Or Fast Rabbit: 龟速 (G uīsù)? 神速 (Shénsù)?

I'm writing about two simple and useful words in Mandarin Chinese that you can use on a daily basis to describe things that are fast or slow. These terms, "龟速 (guīsù) slow" and "神速 (shénsù) fast", I learned when reading and discussing Children's stories in my beginner Mandarin class.

Aesop's fable of The Tortoise and the Hare is one of the most famous folktales in the world and has been adapted to countless cultures and languages worldwide. The story is a lesson on speed vs. consistency. The hare, or rabbit, represents speed, while the tortoise, or turtle, represents consistency and slowness.

The Tortoise and the Hare was one of the first of many children's stories that I learned in China while studying Mandarin Chinese. Since I was already familiar with the story in English, I was able to compare the Mandarin version with the English version to better understand the usefulness of the Mandarin Chinese words and the way the two languages can express the same story using completely different methods. Our Mandarin Chinese teacher introduced two antonyms while we discussed the story after reading. These two words have stuck with me from then on. The words were 龟速 (guīsù) and 神速 (shénsù). The origin of the words is simple:

速 (sù) can be used as an adjective meaning "fast" and as a noun meaning "speed."
龟 (guī) = tortoise or turtle.
When we combine 龟 (guī) and 速 (sù), we get:
龟速 (guīsù) = slow (adjective); slowness (noun).

On the other hand, when we add "神 (shén) god/supernatural being" + "速 (sù) speed" we get 神速 (shénsù), meaning very fast (adjective); quickness (noun).

We all decided it would be really funny to prank our teacher for April Fool's Day. We had painted Easter Eggs as an activity with some local children and they were sitting in the window of our classroom. We thought it would be hilarious to replace the eggs with some baby chicks a classmate had and trick the teacher into thinking our Easter Eggs had hatched. What happened instead was a classmate accidentally knocked over the eggs and broke some of them as we heard the teacher coming into the room. The classmate with the live chickens had not made it into the classroom yet, so we sat in our seats pretending like nothing had happened. The teacher discovered the broken eggs and ended up blaming the kid who sat by the window and knew nothing about our joke. Later we felt very guilty and told the teacher what had happened, she said the classmate that got in trouble for no reason was "背黑锅 (bēi hēiguō) carrying a black cooking pot."

背黑锅 (bēi hēiguō): take the blame for others; be made a scapegoat; be unjustly blamed.
背 (bēi): to carry on the back or shoulder.
黑锅 (hēiguō): black-cooking pot.

Origin story:

The expression (literally, to carry a black wok) is a metaphor for taking the blame for the faults of others. It has quite an interesting origin story! In ancient times, a thief snuck into a bachelor's home. Upon being able to find a wallet or other valuables, he snuck into the kitchen to steal kitchenware. At this time, the bachelor was awakened and gave chase to the thief shouting, "Stop thief!" The thief dropped...Read more

Quiz:

A. Lily got punished for breaking the glass.
B. Jared got away with stealing cookies from the kitchen.
C. James was blamed when Lily broke the glass.
D. Jared and James thought it was funny when Lily got in trouble.
See Answer