Hi @YuQinCai, @Constance_Fang @Fiona and the ChinesePod team, my question is this:
When people say “XXX变落汤鸡”, what do they actually want to say? Does it have anything to do with the chicken? Thanks.
Hi Jeremy,
That is a good questions, maybe it is the same with " 落水狗“ ， to describe how embarressing when someone get so wet, but so werid why they always like to use chicken and dog.
Hi @Jeremypu2019 ,
落汤鸡 [luò tāng jī] means ‘getting wet’. For example,
今天的雨好大，我都变成落汤鸡了。
[Jīntiān de yǔ hǎo dà, wǒ dōu biàn chéng luòtāngjīle.]
The rain is heavy today. I am soaking wet.
There’s chicken in this phrase because
(1) Chicken can’t swim
(2) Chicken’s feather is not waterproof
Hi @gracechen7874,
We often use these two animals in slangs because they are the most common animals in ancient China since most families kept them in the house.
Betty
hahaha, thank you Betty, that is very interesting.
so we can say someone looks like “dog and chicken” , it doesnt mean rude, but can not say they look like “pig” right?
Hi Grace,
What kind of people would make you want to describe them as “dog and chicken”? We don’t use animals to describe people because in most cases it’s rude no matter which animal you use.
Hi Betty,
You mean to say someone like “落汤鸡” is rude, I thought it wasn’t。
It seems I have to be very careful to use animal words to people, thank you for telling me this.
Hi Grace,
落汤鸡 is not rude. It’s a neutral description. But we do need to be very careful when we use animals to describe people.
Betty
I feel like if people say these words, it looks like they are saying something negative.
对牛弹琴 鸡同鸭讲 挂羊头卖狗肉 狐假虎威 狗眼看人低
Am I correct? So we really need to be very careful when using them. 
It is really hard to tell if they are negative or neutral, but anyway, I learned a lot, thank you all.
Yes, they are all somehow negative.