so poor as to have no room to stick an awl on

so poor as to have no room to stick an awl on

In Chinese, Pinyin is sh ē NW ú L ì Zhu ī, which means no shelter. From the romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The origin of Idioms

The third chapter of the romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong in the Ming Dynasty: "the embarrassment of preparing for the fate affects all the kings. I'm afraid that you may be wrong. Why don't you abandon your preparation and vote for Mingzhu in order to gain fame? "

Idiom usage

There is no space to live in.