老虎屁股摸不得
Chinese
feel with the hand; to touch; to stroke feel with the hand; to touch; to stroke; to grope; to feel (one's pulse); imitate; copy | must not; should not; not be allowed must not; should not; not be allowed; to not receive | |||
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trad. (老虎屁股摸不得) | 老虎屁股 | 摸 | 不得 | |
simp. #(老虎屁股摸不得) | 老虎屁股 | 摸 | 不得 | |
Literally: “no one dares to touch a tiger's backside”. |
Etymology
- 不許人講話,老虎屁股摸不得,凡是採取這種態度的人,十個就有十個要失敗。 [MSC, trad.]
- From: 1962, Mao Zedong, 《在擴大的中央工作会议上的講話》
- Bùxǔ rén jiǎnghuà, lǎohǔ pìgu mō bùdé, fánshì cǎiqǔ zhè zhǒng tàidù de rén, shí gè jiù yǒu shí gè yào shībài. [Pinyin]
- Anyone, who doesn't allow others to speak, like a tiger whose backside can never be touched by anyone, will always fail.
不许人讲话,老虎屁股摸不得,凡是采取这种态度的人,十个就有十个要失败。 [MSC, simp.]
Pronunciation
Idiom
老虎屁股摸不得
- (colloquial, derogatory, figuratively) to be self-conceited or self-important; can't tolerate differing opinions; not to be provoked
- [2011, Kissinger, Henry, On China, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, LCCN 2011009265, OCLC 1025648355, pages 368-369:
- Shortly after the war, Hua Guofeng summed up the outcome in a pithy phrase contemptuous of Soviet leaders: “As for threatening us, they did that by maneuvers near the border, sending ships to the South China Sea. But they did not dare to move. So after all we could still touch the buttocks of the tiger.”]
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