Podcast #003: 拍马屁 Flattering in Chinese

Script

大家好！今天我们要学习一个很有意思的说法：拍马屁。生活中我们一般用“拍马屁”来形容奉承、讨好别人的行为，也就是flatter，lick somebody`s boots or to suck up somebody.
例如：
他为了升职，正在想方设法地拍老板的马屁。(He is working hard to flatter the boss to get that promotion.)
拍马屁的字面意思是Clap horse butt。但为什么呢？
中国元朝的时候，蒙古族人都养马，当他们牵着马相遇时，常要拍拍对方马的屁股，表示尊敬。如果碰到好马，总喜欢拍着马屁股称赞一番。但是有的时候，有的人不论马好不好，都只说好话，奉承马的主人。后来人们就把这种奉承的行为称为“拍马屁”。
我们叫这些喜欢拍马屁的人“马屁精”。
好，这些就是这一次的内容。希望你喜欢！

Dàjiā hǎo! Jīntiān wǒmen yào xuéxí yīgè hěn yǒuyìsi de shuōfǎ: Pāimǎpì. Shēnghuó zhōng wǒmen yībān yòng “pāimǎpì” lái xíngróng fèngchéng, tǎohǎo biérén de xíngwéi, yě jiùshì flatter, lick somebody`s boots or suck up somebody. Lìrú:
Tā wèile shēng zhí, zhèngzài xiǎngfāngshèfǎ de pāi lǎobǎn de mǎ pì.(He is working hard to flatter the boss to get that promotion.)
Pāimǎpì de zìmiàn yìsi shì Clap horse butt. Dàn wèishéme ne?
Zhōngguó Yuáncháo de shíhòu, Ménggǔ zú rén dōu yǎng mǎ, dāng tāmen qiānzhe mǎ xiāngyù shí, cháng yào pāi pāi duìfāng mǎ de pìgu, biǎoshì zūnjìng. Rúguǒ pèng dào hǎo mǎ, zǒng xǐhuān pāizhe mǎ pìgu chēngzàn yī fān. Dànshì yǒu de shíhòu, yǒu de rén búlùn mǎ hǎobù hǎo, dōu zhǐ shuō hǎohuà, fèngchéng mǎ de zhǔrén. Hòulái rénmen jiù bǎ zhè zhǒng fèngchéng de xíngwéi chēng wéi “pāimǎpì”.
Wǒmen jiào zhèxiē xǐhuān pāimǎpì de rén “mǎpìjīng”.
Hǎo, zhèxiē jiùshì zhè yīcì de nèiróng. Xīwàng nǐ xǐhuān!

English Translation

Hi everyone! Today, we will learn a very interesting saying: “Pāimǎpì”. In daily life, we normally use Pāimǎpì to describe flattering behavior and means flatter，lick somebody`s boots or to suck up somebody. For example:
Tā wèile shēng zhí, zhèngzài xiǎngfāngshèfǎ de pāi lǎobǎn de mǎ pì. (He is working hard to flatter the boss to get that promotion.)
Literally Pāimǎpì means ‘clap a horse butt’, but why?
In Yuan dynasty of China, the Mongolians bred horses. When they met each other with their own horses, they often claps the other`s horse butt to show the respect. If they encountered good horses, always clapped horse`s butt and praised it. But sometimes, some people just said good words to flatter the owner of horse no matter it were good or not. After this idea became common knowledge, people call this kind of flattering behavior as ‘Pāimǎpì’.
We call this kind of person who likes to flatter others as mǎpìjīng (lickspittle).
Well, that`s today’s content for this time. I hope you like it!

Vocabulary

拍马屁 [Pāimǎpì] flatter, lick somebody`s boots, suck up someone

形容 [xíngróng] deascribe

奉承 [fèngchéng] flatter, adulate

讨好 [tǎohǎo] ingratiate oneself with

升职 [shēng zhí] get promotion

想方设法 [xiǎng fang shè fǎ] do everything possible to

元朝 [Yuán cháo] Yuan dynasty

蒙古族 [Ménggǔ zú] Mongolia

尊敬 [zūn jìng] respect

称赞 [chēng zàn] praise

Practice

1. How to say 拍马屁 in your language?

2. Choose the correct answer:

Don`t flatter me! Translation: (   )

1. 别拍马屁我
2. 我别拍马屁
3. 别拍我马屁
4. 别我拍马屁

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