After not reading and writing Chinese for nearly 40 years, I have forgotten how to write many Chinese characters.
In writing “Amazing Applications of Microsurgery: by Dr. Cheng-Hung Lin, 林承弘 (Luke)” I heard Luke said “ban men nau fu”, which I remember it means “display one’s slight skill before an expert”, so I wrote “搬門弄虎”; I was sure it implies the skill of “taming the tiger” (弄虎), but forgot why “moving the door” (搬門), so I asked Katy what was the “source of this phrase” (典故)
Looking at my 搬門弄虎, Katy said in disbelief “夭壽” (said in Taiwanese), I knew something was terribly wrong. It should be 班門弄斧, instead of 搬門弄虎.
The story (典故) is that there was a guy named 魯班, famously known for his skill in turning any wood into exquisite art work, using ax (斧), so if any one tries to show off one’s carpentry work in front of (or in front of the house door) 魯班, is 班門弄斧.
搬門弄虎 and 班門弄斧 have exactly the same pronunciations.
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