Hot answers tagged idioms
10
This idiom comes from the famous book of 《论语》, a book recording the Confucius and his disciples' words. Here is the source:
《论语·卫灵公》：“子曰：‘当仁，不让于师’。”
Explanations:
卫灵公 is the name of a chapter of that book.
In that chapter, you can read this sentence(the 36th) "子曰：‘当仁，不让于师’。“ The Confucius said:" when [you are] facing 仁(see note), you should ...
6
Taken from my.chinese.cn:
成语为什么四字者为多？这大概是因为四字容易上口。如我国古代的诗歌总集《诗经》，就以四字句为多，古代历史《尚书》，其中四字句也有一些。后来初学读的三、百、千《三字经》《百家姓》《千字文》，其中后两种即全为四字句。《四言杂字》《龙文鞭影》初、二、三集，都是四言。这虽然是训蒙书，也足以说明四字句之为人所喜爱、所乐诵。
Why are idioms mostly four characters? This is basically because four words are catchy. Our country's famous book of poetry, 《诗经》, mostly uses four-character sentences, ...
5
As a form of Southwestern Mandarin, you can approach the Chongqing dialect with resources designed for Sichuanese in general. The English Wikipedia gives a lot of resources on "Si4cuan1hua4", including a good overview of the phonology, and a introduction to Sichuanese Pinyin. The Chinese Wikipedia gives a little more detail on the Chengdu-Chongqing dialect.
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5
It should be 放我一马. 马 here refers to the rider rather than the horse itself. It's from 三国演义.
出自三国演义。赤壁之战，曹操大败，欲从华容道逃走，被关羽逮个正着，立马堵住去路。关羽念及往日旧恩，让开马位，使曹操得以逃脱。“放你一马”，比喻手下留情。即出于此。
Source: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2156078.html
English version of the story (wikipedia)
5
I agree with the viewpoints from xiaohouzi79, and I would like to make a supplement here.
Many idioms come from classic poems and books，and as xiaohouzi79 mentioned, four-character sentences were popular in these materials, especially I think in poems and books(such 《诗经》,《左传》,etc.) before Qin Dynast(221BC-207BC).Although foreigner may be more familiar with ...
5
I didn't see this film, so I am not sure if this is the original one used in the film.
From your description, I guess the idiom is "人面兽心", which literally means "a human's face and a beast's heart", actually is used to describe a man who looks kind, but really is vicious, evil or wicked.
By the way, I think you can show us the time point or the scene when ...
5
"流言" (liú yán)
一时间 流言 四起,亚洲陷入困境,资金加速流出,这些国家的本土银行纷纷倒闭。
Once the rumor got started that Asia was in trouble, these people started withdrawing their money faster and faster and it caused failures of domestic banks in these countries.
"谣言" (yáo yán)
布莱尔，如果你真的,编造了丹·汉弗瑞和那个老师的 谣言 ，她可以告你诽谤。
Blair,if you started that rumor About Dan Humphrey and ...
4
I would suggest 就像真的 is the closest translation. First, it is literally close to "as if". Second, it also has the implication of disbelief.
In your example:
A: 过两年我就开法拉利了。
B: 说得像真的一样 (means 别做梦了)。
"废话!" literally means "redundant utterances". It's the of equivalent somthing like "You bet! [with an unpleasant tone]" which implies you actually ...
4
"给我" is usually interpreted as a command or an order to do something for the speaker.
"站住" means to halt or to stand still.
"给我站住" is not an idiom, but a command to stop a person from walking away. In this case, Google Translate got it wrong. "给我站住" is usually spoken when someone has done something bad and you want that person to stop walking away from the ...
4
(As BertR pointed out, 独一无二 is a Chengyu; the other two are not.)
Unlike Chengyu, 4-character idioms don't have any significance over 3-character idioms, 5-character idioms or any other idioms, in any means other than the rhythm role it plays in the sentence. They're just valid combinations of words, you can totally replace parts or make your own, and there ...
3
肯定是好像``正如的意思, 在您的例子中, 那句话最地道的中文说法应该是:说的跟真的似的!
When we trans as if into Chinese, We always use 好像,正如. But in different sentence, we will choose a best fit word. In that example, B think A is 做梦(空想), so, the 说的跟真的似的 表达了B对A的想法的嘲笑的态度.
2
"Thinking outside the box" can be translated to 奇思妙想, which is a 成语 and also a noun.
Your idea is great! That is really thinking outside the box.
你这主意太棒了！可真是奇思妙想。
"Think outside the box" can be translated to 打破常规，开动思想, or 打破常规思维, which both are common expressions, but not 成语.
You need to think outside the box to sovle this problem.
要解决这个问题，你得打破常规，开动思想。
...
2
I think 天马行空 is the one.
天马行空 tiānmǎ-xíngkōng
[be powerful and unstrained like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies]
天神之马来往疾行于空中。比喻思想行为无拘无束。亦形容文笔超逸流畅
but use it carefully,天马行空 does not always commendatory
The imagination of child has no limits like the god horse flying in the heaven , details all show the creative ideas
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2
别出心裁 also known as 别出新裁 is one 成语 that fits the bill:
[try to be different; adopt an original approach]
独出巧思，不同流俗。 独创一格，与众不同。
"别出" means out of the box
"心裁" may refer to an idea, a scheme, a design or a solution.
Example usage:
《第六感》这部电影的拍摄手法别出心裁，许多观众都无法想象到男主角原来已死了。
2
As stated in this document about four-syllables idioms, "Four-character idioms are fixed usage, four syllables in length, which convey simply and succinctly a certain meaning. That meaning can be a description of a person, object, or state of affairs, or some piece of wisdom about the world. There are other forms of idioms apart from the four-syllable type; ...
2
The closest answer I can think of is "才怪".
A: "In a few years I'll be driving a Ferrari."
B: "As if you'll ever have a Ferrari!"
A: 过几年我就能够驾法拉利了。
B: 你能驾法拉利才怪!
怪 means incredible in English 惊异，感到奇怪
才 means having the ability (能力：～能。口～。这人很有～干)
This phrase 才怪 is evolved from the longer phrase "才奇怪" and the usage of which only becomes popular in recent ...
1
Huang provided an excellent. I'd like to say more about the meaning in the context.
The banks listed under "当仁不让" are the good ones. Here, the website is personifying the banks, urging them not to be "shy" because they offer good services (similar to people that posses 仁/good moral values).
The column "差强人意" lists banks that are overall acceptable. ...
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