Does anyone have a good explanation why participating people are in fact actually carrots?!!
Nothing makes any sense anymore 
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According to Wiktionary, it comes from the Chinese word 人參, which means “ginseng”, because the shape of ginseng looks kinda like the legs of a man. 參 may have originally meant “root”, but the etymology is unclear.
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Yeah, when you see things like this that seem to make no sense at first glance, there are a variety of possibilities.
- it’s ateji (the kanji are used primarily for their pronunciation, and not their meaning)
- it’s ateji, but only because the original kanji were too difficult to write and they just chose easier ones that sound the same
- the meaning of the kanji changed significantly over time
- there really is some wacky logic to it
And probably more possibilities as well.
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Because this is what happens to people participating in events hosted by the boss of the Rabbit Gang:
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That’s a mandrake, though. 
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Thanks for the replies! Each insightful in their own way!
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