# 当一天和尚,撞一天钟



## Anatoli

Hi,

Can someone please expand on this interesting expression? I am interested in etymology of the expression and would like to see some examples of usage.

当一天和尚,撞一天钟 Dāng yī tiān héshang, zhuàng yī tiān zhōng
Take a passive attitude towards one's work

(Traditional characters: 當一天和尚,撞一天鐘)

Literally: "Be a monk for one day, strike the bell for one day"


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## saneyang

interesting, sometimes we use this to express our passive attitude, without passion to work or study or life, only taking routine things for the responsibility sake and never thinking about future. monk is supposed to strike the bell every day, students are supposed to study everyday.


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## Anatoli

Thanks, Saneyang


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## I_like_my_TV

> Take a passive attitude towards one's work


is one interpretation, the more common one. Another, less common but more positive interpretation is: even just one day in post, one needs to fulfil that day's duty. So, if one is in a job, it's only right that one should work, should fulfil one's responsibility.


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## Anatoli

Like "another day, another dollar", it also has this positive meaning?


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## gntlstp

Hi, 

How would you put "_*当一天和尚撞一天钟*_" in English, as in _"我对人生没有什么规划,就是*当一天和尚撞一天钟*,得过且过."

Thank you._


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## Lamb67

你用谷歌查查：*当一天和尚撞一天钟翻译。就得到答案了。*


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## Ghabi

Perhaps you can say: "I kinda take a wait-and-see approach to life, you know, just hang around until something nice comes along."


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## Kevin70s

live catch-as-catch-can
drift along


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## angelammo

i can't agree with #3; his meaning is 守株待兔


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## name my name

Ghabi said:


> Perhaps you can say: "I kinda take a wait-and-see approach to life, you know, just hang around until something nice comes along."


 Well,what you said is different from 当一天和尚撞一天钟.They have different meanings.In the phrase 当一天和尚撞一天钟 does not have the innotation of wait-and -see attitude or waiting for something good.It means you just do you daily job without any ambition and think nothing about your future things.He who holds this kind of attitude never look for good things happening to him,cuz he simply does not care.
And the common thing that your explanation and 当一天和尚撞一天钟 have is that they show negtive attitude towards life.


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## Augenblick

I agree with "drift along."
So the whole sentence would be something like this:
"I don't have big plans for my life; I just go with the flow and drift along."


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## yucheng

There is still a little difference with "當一天和尚敲一天鐘".   "I don't have big plans for my life; I just go with the flow and drift along." is more closed to "隨波逐流"


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## Augenblick

I don't think having no plan and drifting sound as positive as "隨波逐流", but to make it more clear, how about this for the second part...
 "I just drift along and hope for the days to pass by."


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## Analgesia

Though the official translation is like ：A monk cares nothing but tolling a bell each day as it comes （take a passive attitude towards one's work）
We often use the idiom  in a situation when you wanna coax someone that he or she should do at least their own work that is supposed to be one's  compulsory job.
Therefore ,generally,it could be an expression indicating one ought to do something as he or she is in a job possition,if he or she is not ,then just left.
Or in other words,the action of trolling a bell is the thing and which is the least compulsory thing that one should keep doing as one's  routine in a job position.


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## pcbomb

完整的一句是：当一天和尚撞一天钟，得过且过。
换句话说就是做事不努力，在混日子。


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## pp0970

name my name said:


> Well,what you said is different from 当一天和尚撞一天钟.They have different meanings.In the phrase 当一天和尚撞一天钟 does not have the innotation of wait-and -see attitude or waiting for something good.It means you just do you daily job without any ambition and think nothing about your future things.He who holds this kind of attitude never look for good things happening to him,cuz he simply does not care.
> And the common thing that your explanation and 当一天和尚撞一天钟 have is that they show negtive attitude towards life.


totally agree with you !


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## heather 1997

请问各位，我的美国朋友把“做一天和尚撞一天钟”理解为“go through every day mechanically and perfunctorily”，这样的理解对不对？


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## brofeelgood

heather 1997 said:


> 请问各位，我的美国朋友把“做一天和尚撞一天钟”理解为“go through every day mechanically and perfunctorily”，这样的理解对不对？


I share your friend's interpretation. It's called "_*going*_* through the motions*".


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## Skatinginbc

heather 1997 said:


> 我的美国朋友把“做一天和尚撞一天钟”理解为“go through every day mechanically and perfunctorily”，这样的理解对不对？


It depends on the context.  For example,
我這麼大歲數了, 哪有什麼未來的計畫?  我現在只是當一天和尚撞一天鐘罷了! ==>  I just take each day as it comes.
別抱怨了!  當一天和尚撞一天鐘, 想幹這行，就不得不做! ==> It's all in a day's work.
《西遊記》行者方丟了鐘杵，笑道：「你那裡曉得，我這是做一日和尚撞一日鐘。」 ==> I give a day's work for a day's pay.


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## heather 1997

Got it. Thank you for your reply.


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