Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
Very common South Indian proverb. Of course, our version goes -
To point at a donkey and call it a horse.
I guess because donkeys are way more common than deer in South India. I'm curious about the etymology. Did it really originate in China ? If so, how come its so commonly used in South India ? The Chinese monks Faxian[1] and Xuanzang[2] visited India during the 5th/7th AD...the proverb came along with them ?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxian [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang