Black “horse” of the family (Animal)

Last time we talked about the dark horse黑馬(hei ma3) and different terms with the horse. Like English, we use a lot of animal phrases. But funny how we use different animals to mean the same thing.

Take the horse for example. When an American talks about a worthless number of a family, he uses the term “black sheep of the family;” whereas a Chinese speaker will use 害群之馬 (hai4 qun2 zhi ma3), the horse, to refer to a worthless person who disgraces a group. English speakers say “drink like a fish” while Chinese say 牛飲 (niu2 yin3), drink like a bull to mean gulping down a lot of wine or water.

In the song “The Hard Day’s Night,” the Beatles sing “I’ve been working like a dog.” But we say 做牛做馬 (zuo4 niu2 zuo4 ma3), “work like a bull,” “work like a horse.” In English you say “love me, love my dog.” But we say 愛屋及烏 (ai4 wu ji2 wu), if you love me, you’ll love the crow that’s staying on my roof. You “shed crocodile tears,” in English while in Chinese it’s the cat that’s shedding tears for her prey, the rat. 貓哭耗子 (mao ku hao4 zu3), which is also a歇後語Xie hou4 yu4.

However, we also see interesting similarities in some animal phrases. As you say in English “Every dog has his dog,” we call someone “走狗運” (zou3 gou3 yun4) when he’s stricken with a streak of good luck. In the Bible, the Serpent is the devil whereas in Chinese we use the snake and the scorpio to call those vicious demon-like beauties (蛇蠍美人)(she2 xie mie3 ren2)

Oh, one more thing before I go. (Last but not least!) You say “bullshit” while we say “dogshit!” (狗屎) (gou3 sh3)

害群之馬=害群之马 (Simplified)

害: hurt, disgrace

群: group

之: of

馬: horse

牛飲=牛饮

牛: bull

飲: drink

做牛做馬=做牛做马

做: work as

愛屋及烏=爱屋及乌

愛: love

屋: house

及: as well, and, extend to

烏: crow

貓: cat

哭: cry (for)

耗子: rat

走狗運=走狗运

走運: get into good luck

狗: dog

蛇蠍美人=蛇蝎美人

蛇: snake

蠍: scorpio

美人: beauty