In traditional Chinese culture, there are two very "special" forms of language, namely idioms and couplets, and their particularity is reflected in the conventions and customs, and can also be regarded as a "ready-made" language.
Idioms are derived from specific circumstances and conditions, such as some famous quotes, famous events, or ancient folklore, stories, etc. Although thousands of years have passed, with the continuous growth of traditional Chinese culture, even in the 21st century, everyone still has the Xi of quoting idioms when speaking or writing articles.
However, for most people, although idioms are convenient to use, many times when taken literally, they are often wrong. Everyone doesn't know that it's better, in case the other party is more knowledgeable, it will be embarrassing, so do you know which commonly used idioms are "misused"?
Image: Stills from the writing article
1. These "misused" idioms
1. Idioms commonly used in the general environment
The so-called idioms used in the general environment are all of us in a certain environment, or when we encounter every larger situation, we want to express what we think in our hearts and what we see in front of us.
Beautiful: This idiom first appeared in the ancient book "Book of Rites", which tells the story of a Spring and Autumn Period, Jin Wenzi's family built a new big house, and many scholars came to visit, praising this house as tall and fashionable, it is simply extremely beautiful.
Among them, "wheel" means tall, and "奂" means many, so this idiom is an exclusive idiom for architecture, and everyone often comes to describe the scenery and the beautiful effects in some scenes, which is not right.
The picture comes from the Internet: Beautiful
Wind from the ground: Seen in "Feng Fu", the "hole" in it is the meaning of holes and holes, "come" is the meaning of recruitment, and the overall meaning is that there will be a cave before the wind blows in, which is a metaphor for a lot of false news that is unreasonable to rely on, and modern people often use it as rumors and rumors, which is not right.
Wasted years: from the Jin Dynasty famous Ruan Ji made "Yonghuai", the complete poem is: "Entertainment is not the ultimate, the day is flickering", which means that the time is wasted, that is, the life is wasted, and later generations like to use this idiom to compare the hardships of life and the hardships of the years, which is also wrong.
Eyes are not complete: from the "Zhuangzi" in the "Health Theory", is a piece of classical Chinese story, after becoming an idiom, the main metaphor is a person in a certain technical attainment, to the point of handy, and later gradually became a derogatory term in everyone's mouth.
The picture comes from the Internet: Blind cow, wasted years, groundless
2. Idioms commonly used by individuals
The so-called idioms commonly used by individuals are often used in life and social interpersonal interactions, and the error rate is also very high, and often puts us in a more embarrassing situation, to name a few examples.
Ten Thousand Empty Alleys: The sentence in Su Shi's masterpiece "August 17th Re-ascending Wanghai Tower": "Lai Ming Dynasty sees the tide, and ten thousand empty alleys fight for new makeup", which originally referred to lively things, is now regarded as a descriptive idiom, and Changbei is mistaken for a rather deserted environment.
Mutual affection: See "Zhuangzi", which says that the spring water has dried up, the fish have been left on the land, and the mucus in the mouth is moistened by each other, which has nothing to do with love in the earliest days, and is the meaning of praise for the meager strength of others under the tribulation.
The picture comes from the Internet: Xiang Hui Yimo
The word "dislike": The evaluation of the ancient book "Spring and Autumn" in the "Records of the Historians", which means that the content is rigorously structured, and no one can find a single error, which is now generally used to describe a person who is too stingy, which is indeed very different from the original meaning.
Unsatisfactory: From the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the "poor" means slightly, a little, and "strong" means exciting, which originally meant that when the battle was unfavorable, simple actions could make the army morale refreshed and have the will to continue fighting. However, nowadays this idiom is often used with the meaning of "unsatisfactory".
Sweat Cow Chongdong: This word is similar to the aforementioned "beautiful", the original meaning is to refer to a specific kind of thing, from Liu Zongyuan's "Lu Wentong Tomb Table", saying that when transporting books, the cows were tired and sweating, and finally the books were placed together as high as a house, which was an "exclusive" idiom for books in ancient times, and now it is wrong to refer to things casually.
The picture comes from the Internet: Sweat Cow Chongdong
2. Why is there a phenomenon of "misuse"?
1. Xi becomes nature
Why is it easy to use idioms incorrectly? Why is it not right to rely on literal understanding alone? I believe that many friends have doubts in this regard. First of all, some idioms are less common, increasing the error rate of use, and if an idiom is common, it generally won't be too much of a problem.
For example, when we were in school, many words in textbooks, even if we didn't understand them, the teacher would analyze and answer them to help students understand and use them. It has to be said that the average education and reading volume of mainland citizens are not ideal, and although some idioms are circulated among the people, they lack corresponding knowledge and understanding, and they are often used like others, which causes irregularities.
In addition, in the structure of the idioms themselves, we all know that most idioms are four words, and most of the words are relatively simple and ordinary, combined with each other, and it is naturally not difficult to read, but it is not easy to understand the story behind them or the deeper meaning, so everyone generally looks to the text.
Image: Stills of idioms being recorded and handed down
2. Not persistent enough in learning
After leaving school, many of them have put down their books since then, and it is difficult to trace back to the source and know the reason for the problems they encounter in social life.
For example, the idiom "July Flowing Fire" first appeared in the Book of Songs, and the original translation is the dusk of the seventh lunar month, and the position of the Great Mars began to move westward from the original Zhongtian, and the hot and dry weather began to decay and become cooler at this time.
In September, it is already the same as winter, you need to wear cotton clothes, the north wind in November is very strong, and the cold wind in December is unbearable, at this time there is no decent linen, but how to get through?
You see, behind such a seemingly simple idiom, there is a long story with a completely different meaning, if you interpret it literally, "July" will be considered time, and "flowing fire" naturally represents the scorching temperature.
The picture comes from the Internet: July Flowing Fire
This seems to be just mild with our subjective perception of the hot summer, so we began to Xi to use "July flowing fire" to describe the hot summer, in fact, this is completely wrong, and even many media lack this spirit of pursuing true meaning and use it indiscriminately.