Saying So-so; Mediocre in Mandarin Chinese

The rules of etiquette in Chinese culture state that compliments must be rejected. Therefore, if someone tells you that you speak Mandarin well, a good way of responding would be, â€Å"Not at all, my Mandarin is very poor.† One way of saying this is with the Mandarin Chinese phrase mÇŽmÇŽhÃ… «hÃ… «. This could be prefaced with nÇŽli nÇŽli, which means â€Å"where?†Ã¢â‚¬â€as in, â€Å"Where is my good Mandarin? I don’t see it.† MÇŽmÇŽhÃ… «hÃ… « is made up of four Chinese characters: é © ¬Ã© © ¬Ã¨â„¢Å½Ã¨â„¢Å½/é ¦ ¬Ã© ¦ ¬Ã¨â„¢Å½Ã¨â„¢Å½ (the second is traditional Chinese). The first two characters mean â€Å"horse† and the second two characters mean â€Å"tiger.† This makes the phrase very easy to remember, but why does â€Å"horse horse tiger tiger† mean â€Å"mediocre?† It’s neither one nor the other—it’s so-so, mediocre. Example of Mama Huhu Click on the links to hear the audio. NÇ  de guà ³yÇ” shuÃ…  de hÄ›n hÇŽo.ä ½  Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¥Å"‹è ªÅ¾Ã¨ ª ªÃ¥ ¾â€"Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã¤ ½  Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¥â€º ½Ã¨ ¯ ­Ã¨ ¯ ´Ã¥ ¾â€"Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¥ ½Your Mandarin is very good.NÇŽli nÇŽli - mÇŽmÇŽ hÇ”hÇ”.å“ ªÃ¨ £ ¡Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡ é ¦ ¬Ã© ¦ ¬Ã¨â„¢Å½Ã¨â„¢Å½Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'å“ ªÃ©â€¡Å' é © ¬Ã© © ¬Ã¨â„¢Å½Ã¨â„¢Å½Not at all—it’s very bad. It should be noted that this phrase is very common in many beginner textbooks, but that few native speakers actually use it and it might come across as a bit strange or out-dated. Its a little bit similar to textbooks in English as a second language having its raining cats and dogs because its a cute expression that students like, but very few people actually say that. Its fine to use, of course, but dont be surprised if you dont hear other people saying it all the time.