老鼠过街，人人喊打

[randall_flagg]

What's it mean? I can translate the sentence, but I forgot what it really means and when to use it. Any help?

[skylee]

Take a look -> http://www.iciba.com/search?s=%E8%BF%87%E8%A1%97%E8%80%81%E9%BC%A0&t=word〈=utf-8

过街老鼠

guòjiē-lǎoshǔ

[a person as unpopular as a rat crossing the street] 比喻人人痛恨的人

过街老鼠,人人喊打

[confucius]

I used it once on a long distance bus when the driver stopped to argue with a Chinese passenger on board who refused to pay a surcharge for putting humongous luggage on the vacant seat next to him (and in the aisle). It helped lighten up a very tense atmosphere.

[xiaojiang216]

It helped lighten up a very tense atmosphere.

That's great! There should be a superhero who goes around reciting 成语 that is pertinent to the situation, and lightens everything up.

[ameliasj]

In China, mouse is considered as one of "四害"si hai, which means four harms. So when people saw mouse, they would say "打", to kill the mouse.

"打" sound like "大" in Chinese.

This sentence could also be found in an old Chinese story.

Once a mouse said to a cattle, "I am bigger than you." Of course the cattle can't agree with that, so the mouse suggeseted that they two walk on the street and let the people judge who's bigger. When people saw a mouse walking on a street, they began to say: "打老鼠", which sounds as "大老鼠"（big mouse）. When they saw the cattle, they said nothing since it is so familar. Thus the mouse won the bet.

The story was heard when I am a little girl so it may be some different version or part of this story.