Teach fish how to swim is an idiomatic expression derived from the Latin proverb piscem natare doces. The phrase describes the self-sufficiency of those who know better how to do everything than the experts. It corresponds to the expression, "teaching grandmother to suck eggs".[1] Erasmus attributed the origins of the phrase in his Adagia to Diogenianus.[2]

A corollary idiomatic phrase is part of common usage in Chinese "班門弄斧"[3]

References

  1. ^ Belton, John Devoe (1891). "A Literary Manual of Foreign Quotations, Ancient and Modern". New York: G. P. Putnam. p. 151. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. ^ Erasmus, Desiderius et al. (1974). Collected Works of Erasmus, p. 134., p. 134, at Google Books; compare Ἰχθὺν νηχέσθαι διδάσκεις
  3. ^ Muehl, Louis Baker et al. (1999). Trading Cultures in the Classroom: Two American Teachers in China, p. 18, at Google Books; 班门弄斧: display one's slight skill before an expert e.g. 在你面前班门弄斧,太不好意思了 (I'm making a fool of myself trying to show off before an expert like you)
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