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對牛彈琴 — pearls before swine: chengyu story and meaning

對牛彈琴 — To offer refined or technical talk to listeners who cannot follow it. The fault may sit with the speaker's choice of audience, not the listeners — match the message to the hearer.

Simplified

对牛弹琴

Literal meaning

to play the lute to water buffalo

Source

Han-dynasty anecdote, recorded in the Mouzi (2nd–3rd century CE)

When to use it

Said of mismatched explanations, e.g. quoting grammar rules at a toddler instead of singing with them.

The story

A skilled musician once played his most refined melodies to a herd of water buffalo grazing by the river. The animals went on chewing grass without so much as lifting their heads. The musician did not blame the buffalo — he changed his tune, imitating the buzzing of horseflies, and the whole herd flicked its tails and stamped. The old comment adds the point: the first performance was not bad music, it was the wrong audience. Speak to the hearer in sounds the hearer knows.

Example

Characters

• 對
• 牛
• 彈
• 琴

More chengyu stories

• 畫蛇添足 (waak6 se4 tim1 zuk1) — To spoil something good by adding what it does not need. Used when extra touches make a finished job worse, not better.
• 守株待兔 (sau2 zyu1 doi6 tou3) — To hope lightning strikes twice instead of working for what you want. Used for people who copy a one-off lucky break instead of adapting.
• 亡羊補牢 (mong4 joeng4 bou2 lou4) — Losses already taken are a reason to fix the cause, not to give up. Used to encourage action after a failure: repair the hole, then carry on.
• 掩耳盜鈴 (jim2 ji5 dou6 ling4) — To pretend a problem does not exist by blocking out the evidence, in a way that fools nobody but yourself. Used for self-deception that is obvious to everyone else.

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