Every Chinese five year old knows the word “bukeqi” and knows that it means “you’re welcome”.
每一个五岁的中国孩子都知道这个词“bukeqi不客气”，也知道这个词用英语说就是“you’re welcome”
The five year old or any illiterate Chinese does not know the meaning of “bu or ke or qi.
It is perceived as one word.
但是，每一个五岁的孩子或是不识字的人可能都不知道“不”、“客”、“气”这三个字分别代表什么意思，他们会认为这就是一个词。
Every 10 year old Chinese knows how to write the characters 不客氣 “bu ke qi” and knows that the characters mean “no guest air”.
每一个10岁的中国孩子都知道怎样去写“bu or ke or qi（不客氣）”这三个汉字并且也知道这个词的意思就是“no（不） guest （客）air（氣）”
Few Chinese have thought about why they use the three characters “no guest air”
几乎没有中国人思考过他们为什么用这三个字“no（不） guest（客） air（气）”
This is because most Chinese spend their lives “blindly”! memorizing thousands of characters and character combinations and never, ever asking why.
我想那是因为大多数中国人一辈子都只是在盲目地记几千个字和词而且从来不曾问过为什么。
I figure all characters and character combinations must be logical and have been searching for the logic for many years.
我发现其实所有的字和词都一定是有逻辑的，并且这么多年以来我一直在寻找其中蕴含的逻辑。
After thinking about the characters for a while,I came to the conclusion that it must mean “不要用客人的口氣”
(no, want, use, guest, person, s, mouth, wind) or (don’t talk like a guest) or as the English would say (make yourself at home) or (you are welcome).
在思考了这个词一会之后。我忽然想到一个结论，这个词的意思是说“不要用客人的口氣”
（no（不）, want（要）, use（用）, guest（客）, person,‘s（人的）mouth（口）, wind（气）
或者说(don’t talk like a guest) 或是就像英语当中常说的(make yourself at home) 或 (you are welcome).
I tell all my Chinese friends of my discovery and they all say: “I never thought of that”.
我把我的发现告诉我所有的中国朋友，他们都说：“哦，我从来没有想过原来可以这样理解”
It is like in English, we say “Don’t jump the gun” but most people probably never stop to think what it means.
就像在英语中，我们常说“Don’t jump the gun” 但是大部分的人都未停下来思考一下这是什么意思。
It means like when we are in a race, we do not want to start before the gun is fired.
它其实在表达在比赛当中，每个选手不应当在鸣枪前抢跑。
Other examples are “hold your horses” or like “keep your britches on” or “keep your shirt on”. We can figure these out without actually knowing the etymology.
还有些类似的表达如“hold your horses” 或者 “keep your britches on” 或者 “keep your shirt on” 我们并不一定要知道它们的词源也可以知道它们的意思。
But we have to think about it.
但是我们还是要思考一下。
“Keep your shirt on”. When two men would fight, they would take off their shirts so their cloths would not get torn.
“Keep your shirt on” 其实说的是当两个男人准备打架时，他们会脱掉他们的衬衫，这样他们的衣服不会被撕破。
“Hold your horses”. In the old days, you needed to hold your horses so the horses would not run away with your buggy.
“Hold your horses” 在古时候，你需要把你的马拴起来，这样的话，你的马才不会牵着马车一起跑掉。
Some examples:
一些例子：
比如：
The light is still red. Don’t jump the gun.
现在还是红灯呢，先别急着走。
Hold your horses, the scooter is not charged yet.
别急着用，车还没充好电。
Keep your shirt on, we’re not there yet
别着急，我们还没到呢。
Keep your pants on, you have not won the lottery yet.
先别那么激动，你又不是中了大彩票。
“Knock on wood” is one that you cannot figure out unless you actually know the history.
“Knock on wood” 这个表达，除非你真的了解它的历史，不然你是永远猜不出它的意思的。
It seems to date to pagan times when a person would knock on a spirit tree to let the tree spirit know that he has been thanked for good luck.
这个可能要追溯到异教徒时期，一个人会敲打精灵树来让树里的精灵知道他在为精灵树所赐的好运表示感谢。
For example :
比如说，
My business is going well ,knock on wood
感谢上帝，最近的生意不错。
We do not have many spirit trees any more. Except in China where we have the “Chinese banana tree ghost” 芭蕉鬼
现在我们再也没有精灵树了。不过在中国的一些地方倒是有一些芭蕉树鬼。
The banana ghost is a kind of female tree spirit that has the ability to help Chinese gamblers to win lotteries and mahjong games.
芭蕉树鬼是一种藏在芭蕉树里的女鬼，她们具有特别的能力可以帮助一些投机商人做投机取巧的事或是帮助他们赢牌。
but she does not like to help gamblers. She usually has to be coerced. Superstitious gamblers will stick pins in a banana tree and tie strings around her until she uses her magic to help them win.
但是其实她们很不愿意去帮助这些商人，她们常常是被迫这样做的。那些迷信的商人会把钉子钉在芭蕉树上并且把绳子绕在树干上直到她愿意用她的魔法去帮助他们。
Poor banana ghost.
可怜的芭蕉鬼。
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