Five ways to say "a waste of time" in Chinese (which you won't find in a text book)
The FISU World University Games (大运会 dà yùn huì in Chinese) is an international sporting event held every two years.
The 2021 FISU Summer World University Games were scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Chengdu. After being postponed three times due to Covid, the Games will now be held there in January, 2023.
Despite Covid set-backs, Chengdu has said it’s ready to host the event.?
But one part of the preparations has pushed things a bit too far, according to residents of a street in a shopping district in the city.
Last month, the local government ordered business owners to change their shop signage from Chinese characters to romanised pinyin.?
The well-intentioned idea is supposed to help visiting sports fans, who don’t speak or read Chinese, to be able to read signs easier when they are in the city for the Games.?
But locals say it's not going?to help, and it’s just as?confusing for local?customers too.?
They say it's 'a waste of time' and 'totally pointless', according to colourful language shared on social media.
Here are five such phrases...
1. 吃饱了撑的 chī bǎole chēng de
Translation: too much to eat and not enough to do; too much time on their hands
Having too much time on his hands, or more accurately,?Too much to eat and not enough to do, is a colloquial phrase from the Jiangsu dialect.
It originates from a story of early 20th-century Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen (孙中山 Sūn Zhōngshān) in 1912.
In one remote village, Sun and his team came to a river where the only way to cross was with the help of a local villager who punted on a small boat from one side to the other.
While crossing the river, Sun struck up a conversation with the man. “How long have you been punting?” he asked.
The man, who misunderstood the question, answered:
吃饱了撑的！
I’ve been punting since I ate breakfast!?
Because the word for “punting,”?cheng chuan?(撑船 chēng chuán), is the same as the word for “very full,”?cheng?(撑 chēng), in Chinese, this phrase has taken on a completely different meaning.
It’s become a common criticism that means someone has “eaten too much and nothing to do.”
Example sentence:
In the context of this local administration in Chengdu, it really is a case of too much to eat and not enough to do.
用到成都这家街道办头上却是妥妥的：你们，真的是吃饱了撑的！
2. 瞎子戴眼镜 xiā zi dài yǎn jìng
Translation: the blind wearing glasses; totally pointless
The metaphor here is fairly straight forward.
领英推荐
It could work just as well in English!
Example sentence:
You receive a government salary, and you force normal people to do pointless things. It’s so unnecessary.
你们拿着国家俸禄，逼着老百姓去干些瞎子戴眼镜——多余的圈圈事
3. 脑壳有屎 nǎo ké yǒu shǐ
Translation: sh*t on the brain; very stupid
This Sichuan dialect phrase is a criticism of someone or an organisation that has done something totally pointless.?
Another Chinese expression with a similar meaning is to 'have water on the brain' (脑子进水 nǎo zi jìn shuǐ) which is less bad than sh*t on the brain, and similar meaning to the same English expression.
Example sentence:
Changing the shop signs in a Chengdu district - is this abuse of power or just really stupid?
成都某街改商店招牌，是权力任性呢还是脑壳进了屎
4. 有卵用 yǒu luǎn yòng
Translation: ‘no egg use’; no use whatsoever
This colloquial phrase is considered vulgar, and normally used rhetorically so say ‘what’s the point?’
A more standard (and cleaner) way to say the same thing would be 'is this any use? (有用吗).
Example sentence:
但在某些主事者眼里，哲学，有个卵用啊 - But in the eyes of some of the people responsible for this mess, philosophy is not important.
5. 实在没得事干，就去洗煤炭 shí zài méi de shì gān, jiù qù xǐ méi tàn
Translation: have nothing to do so you wash coal; doing something that is pointless
Washing coal in Chinese is a metaphor for doing something that’s pointless. After you’ve washed coal, it’s still the same colour.
It's also a phrase that originated from the Sichuan dialect of Chinese and has become a common expression in mainstream Mandarin.
Example sentence:
As they say in Sichuan: if you have too much time on your hands go and wash some coal.
四川民间有句土话，叫“实在没得事干，就去洗煤炭嘛”
That's our five phrase for this week!
You can learn another 20-or-so idioms, words, phrases and slang expressions in the full edition of my Slow Chinese 每周漫闻 newsletter. Click here to access it!
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China business consultant/Interpreter, Founder of Sunny Business Consultation. I help your business resolve China-related issues and boost your operational efficiency. || Consulting, Communication & Supplier Management.
2 年Okay, as a Jiangsunese, looks like I could use "吃饱了撑的“ to comment the idea of local government in Chengdu. ??
China Social Media Marketing | Global Women Asia Fellow '23-24 | Founder, wai social
2 年Love these!
跨文化传播与沟通顾问-跨越”文化“ 藩篱，实现卓越跨文化沟通与合作
2 年A kind reminder and important notice :) ? Please think twice when using those phrases above, many of them can be considered rude or lacking of sophisticated education of the speaker . ? Also "dialect" usually don't use in written format only in verbal or very casual context (like sending short messages to someone you know very well or very close) , otherwise , it can create confusion and misunderstanding when you speak to different Chinese people .
Sustainability and ESG for the Built Environment
2 年Here's my favourite: 脱裤子放屁 / tuokuzi fangpi - take off your trousers to fart.
the vulgar Cantonese version could be 多卵余，or the fun way to say it 法国大餐：多块鱼 （块could be pronounced with a vulgar twist）