📖 Meaning
To compete over strengths and compare weaknesses, i.e. to measure merits and demerits against one another. It describes the act of comparing superiority and inferiority between two things. The phrase emphasizes a competitive weighing of advantages and shortcomings.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Qing dynasty scholar Li Yu's work 'Xianqing Ouji' (Casual Notes on Leisure), in the section on lyrics and musical rules. Li Yu wrote: 'If one only competes in strengths and compares weaknesses with the Southern Romance of the Western Chamber, one might still fear it is both trivial and not trivial.' He used the phrase to argue that merely measuring one literary work against another by tallying merits and demerits could be an exercise not worth pursuing. Over time, the phrase came to denote any comparison of superiority and inferiority.
💡 Example Usage
这两部作品各有千秋，何必赌长较短。
These two works each have their merits; there is no need to compare strengths and weaknesses.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 赌长较短
- Pinyin: dǔ cháng jiào duǎn
- Literal Translation: compete, length, compare, shortness
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4