Chapter 27 <This old man is not afraid of being laughed at>

An old gentleman engaged in the research of Ai Qing's works went to a bookstore to buy "Selected Poems of Ai Qing". He asked a female salesperson who was chatting with a colleague: Is there "Selected Poems of Ai Qing"? The salesperson said angrily: No! As soon as the old man turned around, the salesperson couldn't help but smiled and said to his colleagues: This old man, at such an old age, still buys "Selected Poems of Love", so he is not afraid of being laughed at! Ai Qing and love are homophonic words with different pronunciations and different meanings. The salesperson may have misunderstood "Selected Poems of Ai Qing" as "Selected Poems of Love" out of ignorance, thus making a mistake of confusing concepts.It can be seen that it is not the old man who should be laughed at, but the salesman himself.

Besides, even if the old gentleman really wanted to buy "Anthology of Love Poems", it would not be surprising.The reason why the clerk thinks that old people should not read love poems is because of this unspoken reasoning in her head: Only young people can read love poems without being laughed at (major premise), Old people read love poems differently from young people (minor premise); Therefore, old people will be laughed at when they read love poems (conclusion). This is a hypothetical reasoning with a necessary condition. Although the reasoning form is correct, the major premise cannot be established.

Because reading love poems is not exclusive to young people, why can't old people read them?What reason is there to joke?If you read it for research, it is beyond reproach.