Help with an idiom

[rollingbolus]

Hi there, 

 

I need some help with an idiom - I can't find out whether or not there is a Chinese equivalent of the English language expression "don't speak ill of the dead". 

It makes sense to me that there would be such an expression in Chinese, given the taboo nature of death, linguistically and otherwise, but I need to know if this extends to the way people are talked about (whatever their character was when they were alive) once they have passed away.

 

Many thanks!

[陳德聰]

Hey there and welcome to the forums

 

Just as in English the concept of not speaking ill of the dead can be represented in lots of ways, such as “don’t badmouth a dead man” or “don’t speak ill of the dead” or “we don’t sh*ttalk dead people” etc., the same is true for Chinese.

 

To speak ill (of sb.) is to 「講(人[的])壞話」

 

If you want to tell me not to talk smack about the dead, you could say 別講死者壞話 or 不要說死人的壞話 or some other permutation of the same.

[Publius]

Less direct but the same idea:

人死爲大

爲死者諱

[rollingbolus]

Hi 陳德聰 and Publius, 

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply to my post. What you've told me is very helpful!

 

Cheers