What does 临阵磨枪不快也光mean?

As far as I understand, 临阵磨枪不快也光has a kind of positive meaning, encouraging people to make an effort, better late than never. Jumptocontent Home Forums Blogs AllActivity More More SearchIn Everywhere Topics ThisForum ThisTopic Moreoptions... Findresultsthatcontain... Anyofmysearchtermwords Allofmysearchtermwords Findresultsin... Contenttitlesandbody Contenttitlesonly Vocabulary,idioms,wordlists... AllActivity Home Forums LearningChinese Vocabulary,idioms,wordlists... Whatdoes临阵磨枪不快也光mean? Whatdoes临阵磨枪不快也光mean? By anonymoose, May8,2011at09:33AMinVocabulary,idioms,wordlists...  Share Moresharingoptions... Followers 5 Replytothistopic Startnewtopic RecommendedPosts anonymoose PostedMay8,2011at09:33AM anonymoose Members 4.4k Chinese:比上不足，比下有余 Location:英国 Report Share PostedMay8,2011at09:33AM Iunderstandtheliteralmeaningofthisphrase,butwhatisthemoralbehindit? Accordingtothispage,themeaningissimilarto临时抱佛脚. AsfarasIunderstand,临阵磨枪不快也光hasakindofpositivemeaning,encouragingpeopletomakeaneffort,betterlatethannever.Inotherwords,itisanadvisablethingtodo. Ontheotherhand,临时抱佛脚seemstobenegative,leavingthingstothelastminute,almostimplyingalackofresponsibility,andisnotanadvisablekindofbehaviour. ThesearejustmyobservationsbasedonthewayI'veseenthesephrasesused,butinthiscase,Iwouldsaythatthesetwophraseshaveanoppositekindofemphasis. Iwouldappreciateanycommentsfromthoseintheknow. Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... SiteSponsors: PlecoforiPhone/AndroidiPhone&AndroidChinesedictionary:camera&hand-writinginput,flashcards,audio. StudyChineseinKunming1-1classes,qualifiedteachersanduniqueteachingmethodsintheSpringCity. LearnChineseCharactersLearn2289ChineseCharactersin90DayswithaUniqueFlashCardSystem. HackingChineseTipsandstrategiesforhowtolearnChinesemoreefficiently PopupChineseTranslatorUnderstandChineseinsideanyWindowsapplication,websiteorPDF. ChineseGrammarWikiAllChinesegrammar,organisedbylevel,allinoneplace. xiaocai PostedMay9,2011at01:29AM xiaocai Members 2.1k Report Share PostedMay9,2011at01:29AM YouhaveexplaineditwellenoughthatIhavenothingmuchtoadd.IthinkifataskisexpectedbutthepersonwhoisresponsibleforitfailstoplanandprepareforituntilthelastminutethenI'duse临时抱佛脚;Butifitisunexpectedandthepersonisonlyleftwithaveryshortperiodbeforethedeadlinetogetthemselvesready,thenyoucancomfortthem,andsay临阵磨枪不快也光嘛. Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... semanticnuance PostedMay9,2011at03:15AM semanticnuance Members 1.3k Chinese:nativespeaker Location:Taiwan Report Share PostedMay9,2011at03:15AM Anonymoose,yourobservationsareontherighttrack. Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... anonymoose PostedMay9,2011at04:00AM anonymoose Members 4.4k Chinese:比上不足，比下有余 Location:英国 Author Report Share PostedMay9,2011at04:00AM OK,thanksfortheconfirmation. Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Kiz PostedMay9,2011at04:46AM Kiz Members 55 Chinese:师太，你就从了老衲吧 Location:北京 Report Share PostedMay9,2011at04:46AM @anonymoose 临阵磨枪不快也光cannotbeconsideredasaadvisablethingtodo.It'skindlikealameexcuseforonetodemonstratehiseffortonsomething.Infact临阵磨枪makesnodifferenceindoingthingswithoutpreparation.Theonlyconclusioncanbeconsideredas临阵磨枪不快也光isslightlybetterthan临时抱佛脚。

Butneitheroneispositive. 2 Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Sarevok PostedMay9,2011at07:43AM Sarevok Members 185 Chinese:Advanced Location:北京 Report Share PostedMay9,2011at07:43AM Iwoulduseitasaphraseforcomfortingothersormyselfincertainsituations.Ifyouarenotsharpeningyourspearonregularbasis,itwillgetblunt.Tryingtosharpenitupatthelastmomentbeforethebattlewon'tgetyouasharpspear,butitwillbeshinyatleast,whichisbetterthannothingIguess(mightevenscaresomeoftheenemysoldiersoff:rolleyes:).Ifyou'vebeenneglectingyourstudiesforsometimeandthereisanexamcomingtomorrow,it'simpossibletocramitallintoyourheadinoneevening.Butifyouatleastflipthroughthosebooks,thenmaybeoneortwopiecesofinformationmightstick,whichisbetterthandoingnothingandmightjustmakethatdifferencebetweenanFanaD-:rolleyes:Dminusisnothingtobeproudof,butstill,betterthanF... Justmytwomaos... Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Glenn PostedMay9,2011at03:03PM Glenn Members 961 Chinese:Lowerintermediate Report Share PostedMay9,2011at03:03PM Ithoughtitwaspolishingagun,notsharpeningaspear.Isthatopentointerpretation,orisitdefinitelysharpeningaspear? Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... jbradfor PostedMay9,2011at03:14PM jbradfor Members 3.6k Chinese:Intermediate Location:WA,USA Report Share PostedMay9,2011at03:14PM Idon'tknowforsure,butIhaveafeelingthat"临阵磨枪"pre-datestheinventionofguns.... Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... anonymoose PostedMay9,2011at03:30PM anonymoose Members 4.4k Chinese:比上不足，比下有余 Location:英国 Author Report Share PostedMay9,2011at03:30PM Theonlyconclusioncanbeconsideredas临阵磨枪不快也光isslightlybetterthan临时抱佛脚。

Butneitheroneispositive. Iseewhatyou'resaying,butitjustseemsstrangetomethatinthephrase不快也光,itispointingoutsomethinggood(光)eventhoughtheoverallsituationisbad,somethinglike"everycloudhasasilverlining". Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Sarevok PostedMay9,2011at03:41PM Sarevok Members 185 Chinese:Advanced Location:北京 Report Share PostedMay9,2011at03:41PM Ithoughtitwaspolishingagun,notsharpeningaspear.Isthatopentointerpretation,orisitdefinitelysharpeningaspear? 枪 qiāng 1）[名]旧时兵器，长柄，顶端有金属尖头。

2）[名]口径在20毫米以下能发射子弹的武器。

3）…… （现代汉语规范词典） So,枪wasoriginallyaspearoraspear-likeweaponandacquiredanewmeaningaftertheinventionofguns.Eventoday,youmightencountertheword标枪,whichisajavelin(usedinsports,the“javelinthrow”disciplineiscalled掷标枪). Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Glenn PostedMay9,2011at04:55PM Glenn Members 961 Chinese:Lowerintermediate Report Share PostedMay9,2011at04:55PM Yeah,Iwasn'tsurewhenitcamefromexactly.Iknew槍originallymeantspear,actually.I'vejustcomeacrossitmeaning"gun"somuchinChinese,it'swhatIthinkoffirst.Thatand光seemedtometobethewholepointoftheactivity,notsomethingthatwouldjusthappenanywayfromdoingit. Quote Linktocomment Shareonothersites Moresharingoptions... Jointheconversation Youcanpostnowandselectyourusernameandpasswordlater. Ifyouhaveanaccount,signinnowtopostwithyouraccount. Note:Yourpostwillrequiremoderatorapprovalbeforeitwillbevisible. Clickheretoreply.Selecttexttoquote. ×  Pastedasrichtext.  Pasteasplaintextinstead  Only75emojiareallowed. ×  Yourlinkhasbeenautomaticallyembedded.  Displayasalinkinstead ×  Yourpreviouscontenthasbeenrestored.  Cleareditor ×  Youcannotpasteimagesdirectly.UploadorinsertimagesfromURL. InsertimagefromURL × Desktop Tablet Phone SubmitReply  Share Moresharingoptions... Followers 5 Gototopiclisting AllActivity Home Forums LearningChinese Vocabulary,idioms,wordlists... Whatdoes临阵磨枪不快也光mean? × Existinguser?SignIn SignUp Home Forums Blogs AllActivity × CreateNew...