马后炮 (mǎ hòu pào) — belated advice; hindsight criticism; action taken too late
Definition
A chengyu for advice given after the event — useless hindsight. 事后 names the time ('after the fact') but is neutral; 马后炮 always criticizes the speaker for being too late.
noun
belated advicehindsight criticismaction taken too late
Examples
- ？马后炮。Xiàn zài shuō zhè xiē yǒu shén me yòng? zhēn shì mǎ hòu pào.What's the use of saying this now? That's really an after-the-fact remark.
- 马后炮！？Bié mǎ hòu pào le! nǐ zǎo zěn me bù shuō?Stop giving hindsight advice! Why didn't you say something earlier?
- 马后炮，。Tā lǎo shì mǎ hòu pào, shì qián què yí jù huà dōu bù shuō.He is always giving belated advice, but doesn't say a word beforehand.
Appears in
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