Dear Steemians,

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It was incredibly amazing for me to discover that ancient Chinese people were able to differentiate craps, err... I mean crabs. How were they able to predict since approximately 3000 years ago that the word crab will one day sound like crap in English? Awesome right???

IDIOM: 一蟹不如一蟹

Pinyin: yī xiè bù rú yī xiè
Direct Translation: One crab is no better than the other crab.
Subtext: The current candidate is crappier than the previous one.

This idiom was mainly used by people in ancient China to mock or expressed their dissatisfaction towards government officials especially newly appointed ones in a subtle manner.

To be honest, I'm really impressed by their wisdom.

Background Story

Once upon a time, I believe it was during the Song dynasty, a man by the name of Aiko went to the beach. When he saw a roundish moving creature scurrying in the sand, he asked the local villagers out of curiosity. The villagers told him that it was a crab. Then, he saw another smaller but similar moving creature in the sand and asked the villagers a second time. Again, the villagers told him that it was a crab. Disappointed, Aiko exclaimed, "one crab is no better than the other!"

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Review

In my opinion, Aiko can't judge crabs based on just looking at their sizes. In modern times, this is an inaccurate method to assess the quality of crabs. He should have just boiled them then conduct a sensory test to determine which crab had a firmer or meatier texture.

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Sentence construction

这一次的选举真令人头疼，一蟹不如一蟹。

Pinyin: Zhè yī cì de xuǎn jǔ zhēn lìng rén tóu téng, yī xiè bù rú yī xiè.
Direct Translation: The coming election is a real headache, one crab is no better than the other.
Subtext: The coming election is truly vexing, one candidate is crappier than the other.

Hope you've learnt something new from this idiom.

Till the next time!

Regards,
@wittywheat