Loot a burning house

[jiehunzheng]

"Loot a burning house" is a translation of a Chinese old saying. Do you know the exact meaning of it?

I am performing a survey about the different thinking styles in different languages. So this question is intended for people without knowledge of Chinese culture and language. Please answer by "yes" or "no".

Thanks ahead for your concern!

[Rachel_S]

For the record, I'm an American. I know a bit of Chinese, but only what I've learned as a second language.

If I had to interpret "loot a burning house," I'd guess that it means something like "kicking someone while they're down." As if the house has already burned down and, to add insult to injury, it then gets looted on top of everything.

Geez...you think I used enough idiomatic phrases in there? Sorry about that. Anyway, let me know if I'm near the mark!

[kudra]

I also don't know the phrase, but instead of "kicking someone while they are down" I'd say it is related to the fact that, while the looted stuff may be "free" it is still probably not worth it, or too dangerous , just plain foolish to run into the burning building to get it. So perhaps not thinking things through beyond the immediate "hey there's free stuff!" I'm guessing it describes the person doing the looting, rather than the victim.

[HashiriKata]

"Loot a burning house" is a translation of a Chinese old saying. Do you know the exact meaning of it?

...

Please answer by "yes" or "no".

The request is for answers with "yes" or "no" but in the above answers, there were only explanations and there were "yes" or "no". So, what am I to do?

[kudra]

Haha, very funny HashiriKata.

Let me just point out that if the OP is looking

for people without knowledge of Chinese culture and language.

chinese-forums.com may be the wrong website to post in.

My final answer: maybe.

[jiehunzheng]

To Rachel_S:

The meaning of "kicking someone while they're down" similars to "落井下石" which means "hit a person when he is down".

To kudra:

People will move their valuables out of the burning site. After that, someone is given the oppertunity of looting the valuables in a confused situation without going into the burning house.

In addition, my question should be intended for "people with little knowledge of Chinese culture and language". Thanks for your reminding. I was tring to figure out if English native speakers can understand that translation.

To HashiriKata:

I was trying to avoid repliers to use each other's understanding as reference to get a meaningful result.

Thank you all for replying my queston.

"Loot a burning house" is the translation of "趁火打劫" which means "fish in troubled waters". Of courese, "Loot a burning house" is not a good translation according to kudra's understanding. This further prooved my idea: translation is not only to convert words but also to translate thinking styles.