Monkey Year Horse Month

"Monkey year Horse month" (Hou Nian Ma Yue) is a commonly used Chinese slang that refers to a date far in the unforeseeable future. However, as the year 2016 comes, this seemingly distant month is coming for real.

猴年马月 hóu nián mǎ yuè

Based on the Chinese lunar calendar, each animal in the zodiac not only represents one year, but also symbolizes a particular month in a year. For example, "rat" corresponds to 11th month in a lunar year, and "ox" refer to the 12th while the month of the tiger is the 1st month. Therefore, the month of the horse this year - the Year of Monkey- falls from June 5 to July 3 in 2016.

In Chinese, it used to describe a time that will never come. In English, you might say: You will be waiting until the cows come home. Because the cows never find their way home. Or once in a blue moon. Because blue moons don't actually exist. So 猴年马月 literally meaning "monkey year horse month", it is actually quite rare, it happens every 12 years.

Chinese people like to make jokes with 猴年马月, here is one:
"My father told me that I will only find a girlfriend during Hou Nian Ma Yue, so I guess it's happening soon."

Do you understand what this joke means? In you understand, email(info@mymandarinhouse.com) us your answer and earn a free trial online Chinese learning course!