I've heard this a couple times now and most recently in a movie "钢的琴". It's an idiom that means "cut me some slack"; "let me off the hook". I couldn't make sense of the Baidu encyclopedia so I'm asking here.
-
You meant 放我一码 surely?... I can explain its literal meaning, but I am not sure about its cultural origin. It might have something to do with kites.– deutschZuidFeb 14, 2013 at 5:30
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
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)
-
That makes sense, although I am seeing a lot of 放我一码 on the net. Could be a misspelling that has become an alternative form? Feb 14, 2013 at 7:18
-
2@JamesJiao I've seen it as an (not so popular) BBS meme which means either "don't delete my post" or "please share invitation code/coupon code/BT torrent". 码 means bits/bytes, extended from literal meaning 'encoding', in both cases.– NS.X.Feb 14, 2013 at 7:35
-
1Another explanation: (Don't delete my post) there's an expression called "码字/碼字" which means "to type, to write an post or sth to be on Internet". A shorter form is "码/碼"; (Give me invitation code) "码/碼" just means code. Feb 14, 2013 at 20:58
-
-
@NS.X. Thanks for the answer but I'm sorry you didn't try harder. See I already tried to make sense of Baidu encyclopedia and couldn't. My 三国 vocab isn't too good. Basically someone (CaoCao?/Guanyu?) escaped a battle on a horse?– taoFeb 16, 2013 at 5:25