IdiomAnimals
Chinese
Chinese马马虎虎 (Mǎmǎhūhū)
Meaning: So-so; careless and only just passable.
Literally: Horse horse, tiger tiger
Example: “"考试怎么样？""马马虎虎吧。"” — "How did the exam go?" "Fair to middling."
English equivalent: Fair to middling
Equivalents in other languages
English: fair to middling
Origin: The phrase means so-so, careless, just passable. A popular story tells of a painter who could not decide whether his picture was a horse or a tiger, so that his sons took a horse for a tiger and a tiger for a horse, with fatal results; it is a folk explanation made to fit the words, not a documented origin. The phrase is recorded from the early 20th century.
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