I'm getting a head start on next month's contest:
If you're a devoted reader of the F.A.Q. (and if you're not, you should be), you know that many Chinese proverbs are rather obscure. In fact, they're often so obscure that the only way to understand them is to know a convoluted story involving a folk hero, a minor emperor, and a constipated horse.
I say, who's got time to comb through tens of thousands of Chinese folk tales?
Make Your Own Explanation For A Real Chinese Proverb!
The rules are simple: Take the real Chinese proverb "The old man at the frontier lost his horse", create your own meaning for it, write up the backstory, and send it to me before the end of the day on August 9, 2002. Best explanation wins a fabulous prize!