Favourite 4 character phrases?

[fenlan]

The true glory of the Chinese language is all the 4 character phrases - I am included all types of chengyu, proverbs and phrases. These are my current favourites:

坐井观天 - to sit in a well and look at the sky, or have a limited, blinkered perspective

叶公好龙- Duke Ye was fond of dragons - relates to a story that Duke Ye liked decorating his house with dragons, but was scared out of his wits when a real one turned up. This phrase refers to people who call for something they don't really want.

What are your favourites?

[Xiao Kui]

I like this one:

破釜沉舟 po4fu3chen2zhou1 (not sure abt tone for fu) It means break the pots and sink the ships. I think the story is abt a general who did this to his own ships after his army landed ashore so his army wouldn't have anything to retreat to. No turning back!

-XK

[盤古]

坐井观天 - to sit in a well and look at the sky, or have a limited, blinkered perspective

I've never heard of that one but it reminds me of 井底之蛙 jing3di3zhi1wa1, quite literally the frog at the bottom of the well.

Some of my favorites are:

过河拆桥 guo4he2chai1qiao2 - "to break the bridge after you've crossed the river"

画蛇添足 hua4she2tian1zu2 - "to add legs to a drawing of a snake"

班门弄斧 ban1men2nong4fu3 - "to show off your axe skills in front of Master Ban (an axe master)".

[hughitt1]

鼯鼠技窮 - a flying squirrel at the end of his abilities

重愛輕友 - to ditch your friends for your bf or gf

last one not quite a 成語 but is still great none the less.. there is another way to say it with different first character, but i forget.

[wai ming]

I've usually heard that last one as 重色轻友 （重色輕友), but it's a good one none the less Jordan Chan (陳小春) has a song by that name

[fenlan]

画龙点睛- to "dot in" the eye when painting a dragon, ie to make the final, clincher point in an argument

[Quest]

Before you continue, I would like to bring up these threads.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/5-how-many-characters-do-you-know53

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/773-chinese-idiom-rally-ii

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms63

If you think we need more, go ahead.

[fenlan]

Can you append these posts to an existing thread?

[hughitt1]

Jordan Chan (陳小春) has a song by that name

I Actually didn't know the song was by Jordan Chan. There is another version by name of 重愛輕友 by leon lai. I found out about it playing rock fever . I check with friend and she said 重色輕友 is much more common.

There is also a cool flash video of the leon lai version of the song on the net if you are interested :）

[wai ming]

Sounds like that's a different song to the one I'm thinking of, although that flash is quite funny

There's a flash version of the Jordan Chan song here, if you're interested: http://www.flashh.com/html/201.html

[geraldc]

It's not a chengyu or anything vaguely literary, but a few years ago I went with my family on a HK package tour through the Guangdong region, and the tour group leader used the phrase 骑马过海 as a euphemism for a visit to the bathroom.

[laohu489]

The only place I have heard 骑马过海 was in sexual context before. I think it was in 金瓶梅 I read it. he he he.

On that note, I would have to say that my favorite one is usefull and practical: 寻花问柳.

[eddiewouldgo]

画龙点睛- to "dot in" the eye when painting a dragon, ie to make the final, clincher point in an argument

画蛇添足　- draw snake add feet. Adding something extra yet totally destroy the original.

[eddiewouldgo]

On that note, I would have to say that my favorite one is usefull and practical: 寻花问柳.

reminds me a song called: 路边的野花不要采！

[xiaojiang216]

I like.....

望子成龍 wang4 zi3 cheng2 long2 To hope for one's son to become a dragon

望女成鳳 wang4 nv3 cheng2 feng1 To hope for one's daughter to become a phoenix

(Both symbolize a hope for a child to become successful)

I also like this, but it's not 4 characters...

你好,我壞! ni3 hao3, wo3 huai4! You're good, I'm bad!

你死了,我還在! ni3 si3 le, wo3 hai2 zai4! You're dead, I'm still here!

It's a poem that my friend told me... He told me that his teacher taught him this...

I don't know about you all, but if my teacher said this to me, I would be a little nervous!

哈哈~

[LiYuanXi]

I like 螳臂当车 tang2bi4dang3che1, the mantis blocking the cart.

[eddiewouldgo]

I like 螳臂当车 tang2bi4dang3che1, the mantis blocking the cart

I think che is pronounced ju here. tang2bi4dang3ju1.

螳螂捕蝉， 黄雀在后。