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成语：”Armchair Quarterback”

I Have a Question
#1

Hi @YuQinCai, @Constance_Fang @Fiona and the ChinesePod team, my question is this:

Is there a good chengyu for the concept of “armchair quarterback” in Chinese?

I’ve found 事后聪明 and 放吗后跑 but I don’t think they’re directly on point. 事后聪明 is more like “hindsight is 20-20”—which is slightly different than the idea of “armchair quarterback.” With armchair quarterback, you still have that idea of hindsight is 20-20, but there’s an additional element. The person criticizing how something was done is not the original actor. He or she is just a bystander that has no idea how it felt to make that decision in the moment, or what sort of factors went into the decision making. The emphasis is on that point: that it’s easy to criticize someone when you are not the one in the driver’s seat, and it’s also misguided because you don’t know all the factors at play.

Thanks so much for your help! I am interested to see whether we have an equivalent for this in Mandarin.

#2

I think there’s not an accurate chengyu for your question.
But there is a saying goes “站着说话不腰疼”， direct translation is that your waist doesn’t hurt because you were standing while talking.
In ancient China, people sit on there feet. So, if you sit for a long time, you will feel quite tired.
The ancient story is like this: A and B were talking, C sat by there side as well. B was so energetic that he stood to talk. B talked for a very long time. After the meeting, C said he was so tired, B asked why, C said “I sat there for a quite long time, 你倒是站着说话不腰疼”.
Now the saying means, someone talks a lot about things while actually he is not in the situation or he cannot understand.

#3

English is not my mother tongue so I wonder - what is an armchair quarterback? :smiley:

#4

You might be looking for 纸上谈兵 which means the person who talk about this was not the one who did that. So he/she has no idea what kind of challenge it could really have when doing something.

#5

Hi,

I think the idiom for armchair quarterback is 放马后炮 or 事后诸葛.

#6

Hi all,
Let me do a summary for you. First of all, “armchair quarterback” means someone who second-guesses a decision someone else has made after the event is finished. According to the definition that @gmattessich has pointed out, there are several ways to translate it:

  1. 站着说话不腰疼 [zhànzhe shuōhuà bù yāoténg] Literally, it’s “you don’t feel hurt on your back while standing.” Figuratively, it’s “you’re not the one in that situation, so you just say what you want to say.” or “you can’t stand in one’s shoes.”

  2. 说风凉话 [shuō fēngliánghuà] Literally, it’s “to say something cold.” Figuratively, it’s “to say something irresponsible or sarcastic.” Although its meaning is quite different from “armchair quarterback”, we can still use it in the following scenario.
    Scenario 1

  • 爸爸：你怎么不请我妈帮忙照顾孩子？
    [Bàba: Nǐ zěnme bù qǐng wǒ mā bāngmáng zhàogù háizi?]
    Dad: Why didn’t you ask my mom to take care of the kid?

  • 妈妈：真的是站着说话不腰疼/你可真会说风凉话，你还不知道你妈对我的态度吗？我怎么敢麻烦她。
    [Māma: Zhēn de shì zhànzhe shuōhuà bù yāoténg / Nǐ kě zhēn huì shuō fēngliánghuà, nǐ hái bù zhīdào nǐ mā duì wǒ de tàidù ma? Wǒ zěnme gǎn máfan tā.]
    What an armchair quarterback! You know your mom doesn’t like me. How dare I ask her for help?

But of course, these slangs mentioned above can be used in other situations.

Scenario 2

  • 爸爸：我觉得我们应该要多陪孩子玩！
    [Bàba: Wǒ juéde wǒmen yīnggāi yào duō péi hái zǐ wán!]
    Dad: We should spend more time playing with our kid.

  • 妈妈：真的是站着说话不腰疼 / 真会说风凉话，我整天照顾她，还要做家务，你回家就知道玩，也不知道帮忙！
    [Māma: Zhēn de shì zhànzhe shuōhuà bù yāoténg / Zhēn huì shuō fēngliánghuà, wǒ zhěng tiān zhàogù tā, hái yào zuò jiāwù, nǐ huí jiā jiù zhīdào wán, yě bù zhīdào bāngmáng!]
    Mom: Easier said than done. You don’t stand in my shoes. I spend the whole day taking care of her and doing housework. You just enjoy your time without helping me after reaching home.

And the followings are more like hindsight is 20-20.

  1. 事后诸葛(亮) [Shìhòu zhūgě(liàng)]: 诸葛亮 is a famous politician, military strategist, writer, engineer, and inventor. 事后 means “afterward”. Literally, it’s “be like 诸葛亮 after things happened”. So this slang means “boast you knew it or said ‘you should blah blah blah’ after things happened”.

  2. (放)马后炮 [(fàng) mǎhòupào] This slang comes from “Chinese chess”, but explaining it takes time, so I would just skip it. It also means “to take action or express one’s opinion after things happened”.

For example:

  • A: 我觉得你那时候就应该跟他说了。
    [Wǒ juédé nǐ nà shíhòu jiù yīnggāi gēn tā shuōle.]
    I think you should have told him at that time.

  • B:你为什么那时候不说，现在才在这里事后诸葛 / (放)马后炮 / 说风凉话。
    [Nǐ wèishéme nà shíhou bù shuō, xiànzài cái zài zhèlǐ shìhòu zhūgě / (fàng) mǎhòupào / shuō fēngliánghuà.]
    Why didn’t you tell me in advance? Don’t be an armchair quarterback now.

And as for 纸上谈兵, on the aspect of meaning, yes, it does overlap somehow, but they are still different.

  1. 纸上谈兵 [zhǐshàngtánbīng] Literally, it’s “talking about the military strategy on the book.” Figuratively, it’s “the way people figure out to solve the problem is not practical or workable.” or “people just say it but it’s hard to be accomplished.”

  • A: 我们可以做一个城堡形状的蛋糕！
    [Wǒmen kěyǐ zuò yīge chéngbǎo xíngzhuàng de dàngāo!]
    We can make a castle cake.

  • B: 我们现在连有什么材料都还不知道，说什么都只是纸上谈兵而已。
    [Wǒmen xiànzài lián yǒu shénme cáiliào dōu hái bù zhīdào, shuō shénme dōu zhǐshì zhǐshàngtánbīng éryǐ.]
    We don’t even know what materials are there. It’s just empty talk.

If there’s still any question about the idioms or slangs, feel free to ask. :slight_smile:

#7

Wow, thank you so much. I actually knew 站着说话不腰疼 and also 说风凉话 but did not know that could be used like this in English - so cool to not only improve my Chinese but also English. I have actually heard about an approach where people learn a third language through a second language they are also still learning, maybe that is what I am doing here :smiley:

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