There’s a phrase in Chinese, “wǒ méiyǒu gōngfu,” which means “I have no time”.

Now, I’d been told that this was 我没有功夫, that is, the same characters that mean kung-fu. Not only that, but I’d seen it in writing, more than once. First in some dictionary somewhere and then again in some little snippet of prose on idioms in Mandarin. The latter gave the explanation that 功夫 means not only kung-fu, but anything that takes a lot of time to perfect or, alternatively, skill or effort. Wiktionary gives 要花很大的功夫才行 and 那个演员念台词的功夫不错 as examples.

Then, just now, I was reading a dictionary from 1903. Under 工 it gives 工夫 in the phrase 我没有工夫. So, not trusting missionaries of the early 20th century, I walked over to a friend and asked. Is it 工夫 or 功夫?

工夫 means time. 功夫 means wushu 武术, the martial art. Blast! Wrong all this time. I’ve even half jokingly raised my hands in a kung-fu stance once when using the phrase 没有功夫.

My friend was certain that this was the case, so instead of believing them like a good friend, I turned to the internet.

And so I ask: Is the 功夫 connection merely a homophonous slip that’s managed to stick, or was it always part of the deal? Or, am I missing the point totally, and instead what we should take from this is that despite the character based writing, Mandarin is really a spoken thing and the forms written on the page are merely suggestions.

I’m inclined to believe that’s the case. Hooray descriptivism?

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Interestingly enough, 工夫 in Japanese (くふう) can mean dedication to spiritual cultivation in the ch’an/zen school of Buddhism. The Japanese can meditate all they want. In China we’re too busy kicking ass.