put the trivial above the important

put the trivial above the important

As a Chinese idiom, the Pinyin is Xu á NTU ó Ji ù sh í, which means more effort, less benefit. From Fayuan Zhulin.

The origin of Idioms

It is recorded in Volume 66 of Fayuan Zhulin that someone got a dead camel, which was too blunt to peel. There is a sharpening stone upstairs, so it takes a lot of trouble to sharpen the knife upstairs, peel it downstairs, and go back and forth.

Idiom usage

It refers to being stupid.

Idiom story

In ancient times, someone got a dead camel. He wanted to skin the camel, but he didn't think the knife was blunt. There was a sharpening stone upstairs, so he went upstairs to sharpen his knife for a while, went downstairs to peel it for a while, and went back and forth, which was very troublesome. In order to sharpen the knife nearby, he did not move the sharpening stone down, but tried his best to hang the dead camel upstairs to peel it.