民女只是一时玩笑 大人不必当真
“I was just joking. Please don't take it seriously.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
不如 回去抄写十遍 大理寺校正洗冤录可好
“why don't you go back and copy ten times "The Washing Away of Wrongs" revised by the Supreme Court?”
民女只是 一时玩笑 大人 不必当真
“I was just joking. Please don't take it seriously.”
“Just learn your lesson from this case. What a joke! What a joke!”
“Please do not punish me; pretend I never said that.”
When facing imperial legal officials, commoners were expected to demean themselves and minimize their blunders to appease the magistrate's temper.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
humble commoner female (self-referential)
A self-deprecating pronoun used by common women when addressing imperial officials in historical contexts.
no need to take it seriously; take it with a grain of salt
A useful diplomatic phrase to downplay a careless statement or diffuse tension.
