"咸鱼翻身" ...English translation?

Question

I know it means "salted fish turns over" but what does it refer to specifically? Can anyone explain when/how this chengyu is used? Is it like....when something unexpected happens? or does it refer to something that was previously unimaginable?? Thanks in advance for your help :)

Answer 1

It is a Cantonese idiom 諺語，俗語, should be 咸魚翻生，not "身",

咸魚 as you know it is salted fish (sun dried) and it's dead

翻 means again, turn back, roll

生 means life, born, living

This idiom is ususally used to describe someone who is in his / her down turn (bottom) of his/her career but out of a sudden, when everyone thinks he/she has no hope at all, he/she got a chance to come back to the stage and with his/her charm/hard working or some other reasons, all the spotlights spot on him/her again. The outcome was unexpectedly good, no one ever could predict it.

(It is a very common idioms which mostly apply on actors / actresses / directors/ singers or athletes ... etc.)

You may translate it to English as (but it sounds funny)

Dead salty fish turned back to life again (miracle).

In Chinese (Mandarin), we have similar ones 成語:

枯木發榮 ﹣ dead dried tree starts to bloom new green leaves
捲土重來 - well equipped / prepared and fight back (in terms of war or in business investment, career move), get a new start again.

for eg. Micheal Jordon gave up basketball once and turned to be a golf player? baseball player? but then he went back to Chicago Bull again and led the team won again. 捲土重來 can be used to describe Jordon's move when he joined Chicago Bull and played basketball again. However, can we say his case was a 咸魚翻生? I won't, at least, it depends whether you are a Jordon's fan or not. No basketball fan want to say Jordon was a dead salty fish, right?

Answer 2

As mentioned, it should be 咸鱼翻"生" and not "身"
咸鱼 = salted fish ( dead, cured with salt & hang out to dry literally )
翻生 = comes back to life. return from the dead.

As if you probably realize by now, it refers to a scenerio where the long shot / under dog coming from seemingly hopeless situations or astronomical odds to acheive the impossible in the end.
A good example would be like the Chrysller Corp in the eighties. Where Lee Iacoca brought the company from the verge of bankrupcy back to a profitable company.
Another would be like Donald Trump a few decades ago, when he was pursuited by creditors and in serious finacial trouble. Later, he dealt his way back to be the billioniar he is today.
BTW, this is really more related to the cantonese dialect and the people in the south, like Hong Kong and the Guongzhou province. ( historic fishing regions )

Answer 3

a salted fish to turn the body over

Answer 4

It simply means, "One useless person got good chance to start over again."

Answer 5

some one who was popular at one time, sorta falls of the face or the earth so to speak and makes a come back, so, I think Aileen is right

talking with my office-mates in Shanghai

Answer 6

Yes I think it means something to that effect or 'to become energised'.