𣍐曉駛船嫌溪彎

Chinese

		to be unable to; to not know how to; to have not learned to	to sail a boat; to navigate	to dislike; to suspect	creek	bend; bent
trad. (𣍐曉駛船嫌溪彎)		𣍐曉	駛船	嫌	溪	彎
simp. (𫧃晓驶船嫌溪弯)		𫧃晓	驶船	嫌	溪	弯
alternative forms		袂曉駛船嫌溪彎／袂晓驶船嫌溪弯
Literally: “blame the river for being too crooked when one is unable to sail a boat”.

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bōe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oan / bǒe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oan / bē-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khe oan

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bōe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oan
    • Tâi-lô: buē-hiáu sái-tsûn hiâm khue uan
    • Phofsit Daibuun: boexhiao sayzuun hiaam qoef oafn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bue²²⁻²¹ hiau⁵³⁻⁴⁴ sai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡sun²⁴ hiam²⁴⁻²² kʰue⁴⁴ uan⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bǒe-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khoe oan
    • Tâi-lô: buě-hiáu sái-tsûn hiâm khue uan
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bue²² hiau⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ sai⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ t͡sun²⁴ hiam²⁴⁻²² kʰue³³ uan³³/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bē-hiáu sái-chûn hiâm khe oan
    • Tâi-lô: bē-hiáu sái-tsûn hiâm khe uan
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bexhiao sayzuun hiaam qef oafn
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /be³³⁻²¹ hiau⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ sai⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ t͡sun²³ hiam²³⁻³³ kʰe⁴⁴ uan⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /be²²⁻²¹ hiau⁵³⁻⁴⁴ sai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡sun¹³ hiam¹³⁻²² kʰe⁴⁴ uan⁴⁴/

Idiom

𣍐曉駛船嫌溪彎

1. (Hokkien, figurative) to always blame others upon failure rather than reflecting on oneself; a bad workman always blames his tools

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 屙屎唔出賴地硬／屙屎唔出赖地硬
• (Hokkien) 𣍐曉駛船嫌溪狹／𫧃晓驶船嫌溪狭

References

• “Entry #11559”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.