Heard this on TVB: 原地踏步. What does the phrase mean? There's nothing in the Cantonese dictionary for this phrase.
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The Perapera Chinese Pop-up Dictionary knows this phrase, as does the Yellowbridge Mandarin-English Talking Dictionary. Good resources. As to paper, it is in the big 2000 page Oxford Chinese Dictionary.– Colin McLartyDec 2, 2014 at 18:51
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2The literal meaning in Chinese is to step on the same position, translated to English is to mark time in military training. The extended meaning is no progress or improvement on something.– xenophōnOct 31, 2017 at 7:17
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2 Answers
Actually, 原地踏步 is not a Cantonese phrase, it's just a Chinese phrase.
The literal meaning is marking time, and it's often used to describe a situation that one doesn't make progress or fall behind.
班长命令战士们原地踏步.
The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.
我要么原地踏步直到获得晋升（这看来得是几年以后的事了），要么改变现在正做的事情。
I could either tread water until I was promoted, which looked to be a few years away, or I could change what I was doing.
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Perhaps you've learned 原 as "field", but it has another meaning: "original". Dec 2, 2014 at 16:12
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原地踏步 basically means "going around in circles".
