teach fish how to swim(bān mén nòng fǔ)

teach fish how to swim

Banmennong ax, a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is B ā nm é NN ò NGF ǔ, which means to dance an ax in front of Luban. This is a metaphor for showing off one's ability in front of experts. It comes from Liu Zongyuan's preface to Wang Bozhong's singing poems in Tang Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

Liu Zongyuan's preface to Wang's Bozhong's poems of singing harmony in Tang Dynasty said, "if you wield your axe at the gate of ban and Ying, you will be able to see Si Qiangyan's ear." Ouyang Xiu of the Song Dynasty wrote in his book Yu Shu with Mei Sheng: "there were seven or eight poems in Zhending yesterday, but now they are recorded. It's ridiculous to be a teacher."

Idiom usage

It's not as good as a person's ability to express things in a derogatory sense. (Chapter 28 of the scholars written by Wu Jingzi in Qing Dynasty) I heard that sister Tingting was knowledgeable. How dare she teach her to talk with her. (the 52nd episode of Jing Hua Yuan by Li Ruzhen in Qing Dynasty) it's a master's skill to show off his piano skills in front of the piano master. A pile of soil beside the Caishi river is famous for Li Bai for thousands of years; a poem comes and goes, making a big axe in front of Luban's gate. Mei Zhihuan, Ming Dynasty

Idiom story

Lu Ban was a native of Lu in the Warring States period. He is a skilled craftsman who is good at making exquisite utensils. People call him "skillful man", and people always regard him as the ancestor of carpenters. Anyone who dares to show off his skill of using axes in front of Luban's gate, that is to say, he wants to show his ability in front of the experts. This kind of ridiculous behavior is too modest, which is called "playing with axes in front of Luban's gate", or "playing with axes in front of Luban's gate" for short. This is similar to the meaning of "playing big knife in front of Guan Gong" as the saying goes. As a matter of fact, the idiom "learning from others" also existed in the Tang Dynasty. Liu Zongyuan, a litterateur, has such a sentence in his preface: "hold the axe at the gate of banying, siyan'er!" That is to say, in front of Luban and Yingren (also an axe Master), it's too cheeky to show their ability of using axes. This idiom is sometimes used as a word of self modesty to show off one's small skills in front of experts.

Chinese PinYin : bān mén nòng fǔ