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掩耳盜鈴 — fooling only yourself: chengyu story and meaning

掩耳盜鈴 — To pretend a problem does not exist by blocking out the evidence, in a way that fools nobody but yourself. Used for self-deception that is obvious to everyone else.

Simplified

掩耳盗铃

Literal meaning

to cover one's ears while stealing a bell

Source

Lüshi Chunqiu (Master Lü's Annals, 3rd century BCE)

When to use it

Said of obvious self-deception, e.g. ignoring bills in the drawer as if that cancels the debt.

The story

A man set his heart on stealing a large bronze bell from a neighbour's gate. The bell was heavy, so he smashed it with a hammer to carry it off piece by piece — and the first blow rang out across the whole street. Terrified by the noise, he covered his own ears and kept hammering, reasoning that if he could not hear the bell, nobody could. The neighbours, of course, heard every stroke and caught him at it. The story is told on people who confuse silencing the alarm with stopping the fire.

Example

Characters

• 掩
• 耳
• 盜
• 鈴

More chengyu stories

• 畫蛇添足 (waak6 se4 tim1 zuk1) — To spoil something good by adding what it does not need. Used when extra touches make a finished job worse, not better.
• 守株待兔 (sau2 zyu1 doi6 tou3) — To hope lightning strikes twice instead of working for what you want. Used for people who copy a one-off lucky break instead of adapting.
• 亡羊補牢 (mong4 joeng4 bou2 lou4) — Losses already taken are a reason to fix the cause, not to give up. Used to encourage action after a failure: repair the hole, then carry on.
• 刻舟求劍 (hak1 zau1 kau4 gim3) — To apply a fixed rule to a situation that has already moved on. Used when someone follows the letter of an old method after its conditions have vanished.

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