carry coals to newcastle

carry coals to newcastle

Chinese idioms, Pinyin is Du ō C ǐ y ī J ǔ, refers to redundant, unnecessary action. It comes from Hou Fangyu's nanshengce in Qing Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

The fourth chapter of "the lamp on the wrong road" written by Li Lvyuan in Qing Dynasty: "brother Yin is very kind, and it's unnecessary."

Analysis of Idioms

[synonyms] self defeating and adding to the cake [antonyms] essential and indispensable [Tongyun CI] many a little makes a lot of friends, many a long night, many a little makes a lot of friends, many a little makes a lot of friends, many a little makes a lot of friends, many a little makes a lot of friends, and many a little makes a lot of soldiers

Idiom usage

When asked about Beijingers, they only know "three heroes and five meanings", while southerners only see old man Qu Yuan's revised version, which is really superfluous. To Hu Shi in Lu Xun's letters: Xiao Ming uses both spoon and chopsticks when he drinks soup. It's unnecessary!