Today, another horse-related idiom talks about liars.
指鹿為馬
This story took place during the 秦 dynasty (221–206 BCE). The prime minister at the time was named 趙高. He forged the late emperor's final edict, forced the original heir to commit suicide, and installed 胡亥 as the new emperor.
As the true wielder of power, 趙高 wondered if his authority was greater than 胡亥's, and whether the officials feared him more than the emperor.
One day, he brought a deer to the palace and said to 胡亥, "My lord, I found this beautiful horse for you. It runs incredibly fast, even at night." Confused, 胡亥 knew full well the creature was a deer. He interrupted 趙高 and asked, "This is a horse? Are you kidding me? This is a deer."
趙高 insisted that it was a horse: "My lord! I am absolutely sure this is a horse! Everyone knows this is a horse."
Assuming it was a joke, 胡亥 sought confirmation from his court. However, paralyzed by their fear of 趙高, the officials bowed in unanimous compliance: "Indeed, Your Majesty, it is a horse." 胡亥 couldn't understand what had happened. He even thought he might be ill and hallucinating. He muttered, "Oh! This is a horse, not a deer..."
Did no one in the palace dare to speak the truth? Actually, a few courageous officials did side with the emperor. However, 趙高 took note of their names and systematically purged or executed them months later. His actions reveal that dictators distort facts and retaliate against dissenters to silence the truth. Once their authority is unquestioned, their reign becomes unassailable.
指：point (at) / call
鹿：deer
為：as / regard as
馬：horse
Literally meaning "to point at a deer and call it a horse."
While originally emphasizing the use of authority to distort facts or coerce others into silence, modern usage focuses more on distortion. For example,
- 候選人使用政治獻金購買私人轎車，同時聲稱自己完全有資格使用這筆專款去買車，指鹿為馬，實在可恥！
A candidate using political donations to purchase a personal car, while claiming he was fully entitled to do so, is blatantly distorting the truth. Absolutely despicable!
Or, on a more everyday level, when my mother argues with me over online misinformation, I might say:
- 你現在是想要指鹿為馬嗎？不要被網路上的假消息騙了！
Are you trying to twist the truth? Don't be fooled by online misinformation!
By saying this, I imply that she is using her maternal authority to force me to accept her "truth," and I refuse to bow to such tyranny!
Similar Expressions 顛倒黑白 / 顛倒是非 / 顛倒是非黑白 and 睜眼說瞎話
顛倒黑白 / 顛倒是非 / 顛倒是非黑白
- 顛倒 (To reverse / To turn upside down): This describes something being placed in the opposite order to its original position (for example, upside down or back to front).
- 是非 (Right and wrong): This refers to the objective truth or the correctness of a matter.
- 黑白 (Black and white): While they literally refer to colours, these two characters also represent right and wrong when used together.
Therefore, 顛倒黑白 / 顛倒是非 (To call black white / To twist right and wrong): This idiom has a similar meaning to "指鹿為馬", referring to the complete reversal of truth or facts. It is highly versatile and can be used in both spoken and written contexts. For added emphasis, these six characters are sometimes combined into a single phrase: 顛倒是非黑白. Please note that the character order in this phrase is fixed and cannot be altered!
- 該名候選人甚至發表顛倒是非黑白的言論，聲稱那些政治獻金完全是屬於他的。The candidate made remarks that completely twisted right and wrong, claiming that the political donations belonged to him alone.
睜眼說瞎話 (To lie through one's teeth / To tell a barefaced lie):
- 睜眼 (With open eyes): To open one's eyes, meaning your eyelids are not covering your eyes and your vision is perfectly clear.
- 瞎話 (Blind talk / Lies): Fabricated stories or lies.
It literally means that even though you can see everything clearly with your eyes wide open, you say things that only a blind person would say. This is a highly practical, colloquial slang phrase used in daily life when someone tells an obvious lie right to your face without any shame.
- 我昨天明明就看到你跟他走在一起，你還要繼續睜眼說瞎話嗎？
I clearly saw you walking with him yesterday. Are you going to keep telling barefaced lies?
I hope you found this useful! To master these words, make sure to check out the video above for native audio examples. Happy learning!
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