成语故事:对牛弹琴 Peals Before Swine

Lu Chang China Plus Published: 2018-01-26 11:00:09
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成语故事:对牛弹琴 Peals Before Swine

成语故事:对牛弹琴 Peals Before Swine

对牛弹琴

duì niú tán qín

Peals Before Swine

对duì means face to; 牛niú is the cow. 弹tán means to play, and 琴qín is the musical instrument. It usually implies that someone speaks or writes without considering his audience. He tries to explain deep truths to a dull person or speaks elegantly and far above the listener's understanding. More often than not, the speaker or writer has over-estimated his listeners or readers. In these cases, the idiom chastises the audience rather than the speaker. 

Literal meaning:to play the lute for a bull

Explanation: to speak cant to a layman

E.g

你和他谈文学等于对牛弹琴,他感兴趣的只有数学公式。

Nǐ hé tā tán wén xué děng yú duì niú tán qín,tā gǎn xìng qù de zhī yǒu shù xué gōng shì。

To talk about literature with him is equal to speak cant to a layman. What he is interested in is only mathematical formulae.

成语故事:对牛弹琴 Peals Before Swine

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