| While studying Chinese, you will learn a lot of 4 character idiomatic expressions, alluding to a story or historical quote. These set phrases are called 成语 chéngyǔ and they are still common in the written and spoken language today. Among the best-known Chinese chéngyǔ, 马马虎虎 (mǎmǎhūhū) is considered the easiest and the funniest one. This expression means “Horse horse tiger tiger”. However, despite its literal translation, this idiom has two main meanings: It can describe a careless person or actions that are performed carelessly and it can also mean “so-so”.  Do you know the story behind 马马虎虎? Once upon a time, there was a painter. One day the painter was drawing a tiger when a man came to him and asked to have a horse picture instead. Unwilling to start a new painting, the artist just randomly added a horse body under the tiger head. When the customer saw it he found it weird and left so the painting was hung in the family living room. In the following days, the artist’s eldest son came and asked his father what the painting depicted. The artist said: “That’s a tiger!”. Afterward, the younger son came along and asked him the same question, but, this time his father said it was a horse. Later on, the elder son saw a horse. Thinking it was a tiger, he killed it, incurring costs for the father who had to pay the horse’s owner for damages. The younger son then encountered a tiger. Mistaking it for a horse, he died in the attempt to ride it. From then on, everybody called the painter Mr. Horse-Tiger. Nowadays the term is used to describe someone who is careless or a situation which is just “so-so” or ‘not bad’. Examples: 最近怎么样？Zuìjìn zěnme yàng? How are you these days? 马马虎虎。Mǎmǎhūhū So-so. 她的论文我只是马马虎虎地看了一下。Tā de lùnwén wǒ zhǐshì mǎmǎhūhū de kànle yīxià. I merely glanced over her thesis. |
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