Identify an Idiom

[roddy]

Ages and ages ago I came across an idiom which you could use to 'compliment' incompetent officials. The English translation was something like 'I could not begin to praise him', with the alleged meaning of 'because there is so much to praise, it would take me too long', but implying 'because he's rubbish and there's nothing to praise.'

I forgot the Chinese though, and can't track it down. Any ideas?

Roddy

[florazheng]

=溜须拍马？ Is it?

[florazheng]

=无术不学？

[roddy]

No, neither of those, sorry.

I saw it in one of those '500 Idiom books' when I was first in China. The English explanation was something like 'I cannot begin to sing his praises, used sarcastically of incompetent officials.'

Thanks for trying though (and thanks for all your help in other topics as well

Roddy

[florazheng]

Roddy, thank you for the interesting forum too.

By the way, what is the meaning of your signature column?

“在骚扰我便你” = “再骚扰我，扁你！”？

[roddy]

Whoops, couple of wrong characters there. It's correct now, I think.

Roddy

[zhwj]

I assume the answer you got from this thread last year (不敢恭维) was incorrect as well.

In a more general sense, if everyone uses it to put off officials, isn't it essentially an insult anyway?

[roddy]

That's really quite embarrassing. I have no idea if I never saw that, or just forgot.