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xxGBZxx t1_ixc6lzq wrote

7 times up, 8 times down. (七上八落) - Chinese proverb

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ImpossiblePlane27 t1_ixczo0t wrote

Wait isn’t it 七上八下 ?

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air_nith t1_ixd6uu4 wrote

While 下 does mean down. I think 落 is used because it means fall or drop. You are not letting yourself down slowly, you are being defeated, or you have been pushed to far and collapse. You fall to the ground.

At least that's the way I understand it.

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ImpossiblePlane27 t1_ixe78mi wrote

I just checked both works! Having lived in Taiwan for a while I’ve always heard 七上八下 instead of 七上八落 haha. And this idiom actually means to be anxious/overwhelmed by emotions lol

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Lomus33 t1_ixeti57 wrote

To be overwhelmed by emotions? So its not about getting up after falling as in progress in life?

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ImpossiblePlane27 t1_ixeutba wrote

No, at least not in the Chinese idiom! And I shall refined it to be more like “overwhelmed by anxious* emotions”. I would use this phrase when something’s making me worry a lot, causing my insides to be uneasy. (I think that’s one of the explanations of the origin of the idiom? Something that makes several of your inner organs go up and others down.)

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