削足适履(削足適履)

Prononciation: xuē zú shì lǚ Signification littérale: Cut the foot to fit the shoe

Origine et Usage

The Huainanzi asks what kind of person, finding the shoe too small, would pare (削) the foot (足) to fit (适) it (履), or cut off the head to suit the hat. The absurdity is the argument. What the phrase names is the specific inversion in which the standard, the plan or the schedule is treated as fixed and the actual thing is trimmed to match — targets, quotas and processes that have outlived the purpose they were built for.

Exemples

Anglais: "They kept the deadline and cut the parts of the product that made it worth having"

Chinois: 为了赶上原定的期限，他们砍掉了产品真正有价值的部分