Here’s a cool little thing I learned the other day. I don’t know if it’s completely accurate but it makes sense to me!
You know how people say that when you can sleep you should close your eyes and count sheep? One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…
Did you ever wonder why a sheep and not a whale or a bee or some other random animal? What if it’s because it sounds like the word: sleep. Yeah!
Do Chinese people count sheep?
No!
The word ‘sheep’ in Chinese is 羊(yang2). The Chinese word for sleep is 睡觉 (shui4jiao4). 水饺 (shui3jiao3) means dumpling.
See where I’m going with this?
When they can’t sleep they are advised to count dumplings because the word is similar to sleep. However, as I was told by my fourteen-year-old English student, nobody really does this because it just makes them hungry.
Great, right! Fun little theory.
Me?China?Huh? 