He Pingdi on 掌故

何炳棣《读史阅世六十年》

掌故：原指旧制、旧例，也是汉代掌管礼乐制度等史实者的官名。后来一种常见的意义是指关于历史人物、典章制度等的故事或传说。

anecdote：An anecdote is a very brief tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical[a.传记的] incident. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot[n. 珠玑妙语]. An anecdote is always based on real life, an incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, in real places. However, over time, modification in reuse may convert a particular anecdote into a fictional piece, one that is retold but is "too good to be true". Sometimes humorous, anecdotes are not jokes, because their primary purpose is not simply to evoke laughter, but to reveal a truth more general than the brief tale itself, or to de’lineate[vt.描绘] a character trait[n.特征] or the workings of an institution in such a light that it strikes in a flash of insight to their very essence. A brief monologue[n.独白] beginning "A man walks into a bar..." will be a joke. A brief monologue beginning, "Once J. Edgar Hoover walked into a bar..." will be an anecdote. An anecdote thus is closer to the tradition of the parable than the patently[ad.明白地、公然地] invented fable with its animal characters and generic human figures— but it is distinct from the parable in the historical specificity which it claims. An anecdote is not a metaphor[n.隐喻] nor does it bear a moral[n.寓意], a necessity in both parable and fable, merely an ‘illustrative incident that is in some way an e’pitome[n.梗概].