#81 To eat melon=to gossip? Expressions with ‘melon’说一说“瓜”

大家好！欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese！夏天到了，你最喜欢做什么呢？对我来说，炎热的夏天正是吃西瓜最好的时候。一边吹着空调，一边吃着西瓜，这是很多中国人在夏天最喜欢做的事情。但是，你知道吗？在汉语里，也有很多关于“瓜”的有趣的表达。今天，我们一起来聊一聊吧！

我相信，每个国家的语言都和他们的文化有关系。在中国，瓜可以是水果。比如，西瓜，蜜瓜，木瓜，这些都是水果。在中国，西瓜特别受欢迎。西瓜喜欢生长在又温暖又干旱的地方。这样的地方，中国有很多。所以，在中国的很多地方都有种西瓜。但是，瓜也可以是蔬菜，比如：冬瓜，南瓜，黄瓜。瓜也可以是种子，比如瓜子，就是向日葵的种子，也是中国人很喜欢的一种零食。

中文里有一句俗语：种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。这是什么意思呢？这句话的意思是：如果你种了西瓜，那么你也会得到西瓜。如果你种了豆，那么当然，你就会得到豆。如果你做了好的事情，你会得到好的结果。如果你做了坏的事情，那么当然，你也会得到坏的结果。如果你的一个朋友因为不认真工作，被他的老板批评了，你可以说：“种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。如果你当时工作认真一点儿，也不会这样了。”

那么，“吃瓜”是什么意思呢？第一个意思，就是吃西瓜。第二个意思，就是看热闹。比如，我们在社交媒体上看到一些明星谈恋爱了，或者分手了，我们去看热闹。我想，是因为以前人们看热闹的时候，喜欢一边吃瓜一边看，所以现在“吃瓜”也有了“看热闹”的意思。但是，这些热闹和我们没有关系，我们就可以说自己是“吃瓜群众”，意思是这些事情和我们没有太大关系，我们也不是真的很关心，但是我们只是想来看一看，打发一下时间。比如，如果有人和你聊八卦，你可以说：“我也不清楚呀！我只是一个吃瓜群众。”

有时候，社交媒体上有很多热闹同时发生，比如，一个明星结婚了，另一个明星分手了，还有一个明星犯罪了。这个时候，你可能会看到网友们说：“今天的瓜田太热闹了吧。瓜太多了！”他们说的“瓜”当然不是真正的瓜，而是一些八卦。如果有人问你：“你最近在吃什么瓜？”他们大概不是真的问你吃的是哪一种瓜，而是问你最近知道什么样的八卦。你最近在吃什么瓜？欢迎在评论给我们留言哦！

Hello everyone! Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese! It’s summer now. What is your favorite thing to do in summer? For me, hot summer is the best time to eat watermelon. Having the air conditioner on and meanwhile eating watermelon meanwhile is the favorite thing for many Chinese people to do in summer. But do you know that? In Chinese, there are also many interesting expressions about "gua". Today, let's talk about it!

I believe that every country's language is related to its culture. In China, gua can be a fruit. For example, watermelon, honeydew melon, papaya. These are all fruits. In China, watermelons are especially popular. Watermelons are likely to be grown in warm and dry places. There are many such places in China. Therefore, watermelons are grown in many places in China. However, gua can also be vegetables, such as: wax gourd, pumpkin, cucumbers. gua can also be seeds, such as sunflower seeds, which are the seeds of sunflowers, and are also a favorite snack among Chinese people.

There is a saying in Chinese: You grow melons then you will harvest melons, and if you grow beans and you will harvest beans. What does it mean? This sentence means: if you grow watermelons, you will also get watermelons. If you grow beans, then of course, you will get beans. If you do good things, you will get good results. If you do bad things, then of course, you will get bad results too. If a friend of yours was criticized by his boss for not working hard, you can say, "You grow melons and reap the melons, but if you grow beans then you reap the beans. If you were more serious at the time, it wouldn't have happened."

So, what does "eat melon" mean? The first meaning is to eat watermelon. The second meaning is to watch the fun/spill the tea. For example, we read on social media that some celebrities are in love or break up, and we go to spill the tea. I think it is because in the past people would like to eat melons while they were onlookers. Therefore, nowadays ‘eating melons’ also has the meaning of ‘spilling the tea／see the fun’. However, these businesses have nothing to do with us. In this case, we can say that we are "onlookers", which means that these things have nothing to do with us, and we don't really care, but we just want to take a look to pass the time. For example, if someone is gossiping with you, you can say, "I don't know! I'm just an onlooker."

Sometimes, there are a lot of things going on on social media at the same time, like a celebrity getting married, another celebrity breaking up, and another celebrity committing a crime. At this time, you may see netizens comment like this: "It is so busy in the melon’s field today. There are just too many melons!" Of course, the "melons" they are talking about are not real melons, but some gossip. If someone asks you, "What melon have you been eating lately?" they probably aren't really asking what kind of melon you're eating, but what kind of gossip you know about lately. What melons have you been eating lately? You're welcome to leave us a comment!