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- to be a stickler for formalities
- to rigidly adhere to
- to cling to
- constrained
- ill at ease
- to try to smooth things over
- to paper over the issues
- to gloss things over
Trad. 南泥灣
- Nanniwan, township 45 km south of Yan'an 延安[Yan2 an1], Shaanxi
- "Nanniwan", a song written in 1943 to celebrate the achievements of communist revolutionaries in Nanniwan, where the 359th brigade of the Eighth Route Army reclaimed barren land as part of a campaign to become self-sufficient in food during a blockade by enemy forces
Trad. 泥盆紀
- Devonian (geological period 417-354m years ago)
Trad. 草泥馬
- grass mud horse
- used as a substitute for 肏你媽|肏你妈[cao4 ni3 ma1], to mock or avoid censorship on the Internet
- boat used for collecting river sludge (to use as a fertilizer)
Trad. 雪泥鴻爪
- a goose's footprint in the snow
- vestiges of the past (idiom)
- the fleeting nature of human life (idiom)
- mud and sand flow together (idiom)
- good and bad mingle
- lit. a clay ox enters the sea (idiom); fig. to disappear with no hope of returning
Trad. 拖泥帶水
- (idiom) muddy and wet
- (idiom) (of speech, writing etc) slovenly; sloppy; (of actions) indecisive
Trad. 雲泥之差
- see 雲泥之別|云泥之别[yun2 ni2 zhi1 bie2]
Trad. 爛醉如泥
- (idiom) to be dead drunk; to be plastered
Trad. 判若雲泥
- as different as heaven and earth (idiom)
- worlds apart
- lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom)
- fig. to be principled and incorruptible
Trad. 爛泥扶不上牆
- useless (idiom)
- worthless
- inept
Trad. 爛泥糊不上牆
- see 爛泥扶不上牆|烂泥扶不上墙[lan4 ni2 fu2 bu4 shang4 qiang2]
Trad. 蘿蔔快了不洗泥
- when radishes are selling fast, one doesn't take the time to wash the soil off them (idiom)
- fig. when business is booming, merchants tend to offer goods of inferior quality
Trad. 拔出蘿蔔帶出泥
- lit. when you pull a radish out of the ground, some dirt comes up with it (idiom)
- fig. to uncover, during the investigation of a crime, evidence of other crimes
- to cause further problems while working on a problem
Trad. 燕子銜泥壘大窩
- the swallow's nest is built one beakful of mud at a time (idiom)
- many a little makes a mickle
Trad. 泥菩薩過江，自身難保
- like a clay Bodhisattva fording a river, can't guarantee his own safety
- unable to save oneself, let alone others