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Originally Posted by RonBee Quote: |
Originally Posted by bmo EX: The tour organizer cries wine and sells vinegar. The so-called five-star, modern, tourist hotel advertised in the colorful brochure turned out to be a shack in a back alley in Bangkok. | I would say that is a good example of that idiom. (I don't think we have a comparable one in English unless it's bait and switch.)
(Say: "came riding by on a horse")
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He cries wine, and sells vinegar is originally an Italian proverb, according to
www.worldofquotes.com. Of the 21 listings shown in a Google search, almost all of them are from Asian idiom sites. Since very few English speakers know this idiom, its listings in Asain sites are puzzling.
I think perhaps this is because the proverb fits nicely into a very popular Chinese idiom, "Hanging up goat head and selling dog meat," one Sabrina first mentioned. (And Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese borrow the Chinese idiom.)
BMO