Blow Hot and Cold 朝三暮四

The idiom ‘blow hot and cold’ refers to changing one's mind easily, as in Peter's been blowing hot and cold about taking an overseas holiday. This expression comes from Aesop's fable (c. 570 BC) about a man eating with a satyr (ancient god who roamed the woods and mountains) on a winter day. At first the man blew on his hands to warm them and then blew on his soup to cool it. The satyr thereupon renounced the man's friendship because he blew hot and cold out of the same mouth. The expression was repeated by many writers, most often signifying a person who could not be relied on.

In Chinese, the proverb Zhao San Mu Si (literally means Three at Dawn and Four at Dusk), has the same meaning. The proverb comes from a story told by Lie Zi who lived in the Warring States period (476 – 221 BC).

Once upon a time, in the state of Song, there lived a man who kept monkeys. He was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. He could understand the monkeys and they could also understand him. He reduced the amount of food for his own family in order to satisfy the monkey‘s demands. After a while his family did not have enough to eat, so he wanted to limit the food for the monkeys.

But he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. Before doing that he played a trick on them： “If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?” he asked the monkeys. All the monkeys rose up in a fury. After a while, he said, “If I give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?” All the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.

Originally this proverb was used to mean a fool can be tricked by changing the appearance but now it has evolved into meaning unreliable person who is inconsistent or changes his mind easily.

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英语成语‘blow hot and cold’（呼热呼冷）指一个人拿不定主意，比如彼得对出国旅行这件事，一直‘呼热呼冷’。这句话出自伊索（大约公元前570年）寓言中关于某人在冬天与萨梯(希腊神话中的出入于山林之神)一起用餐的故事。开始时该人用口吹手指来取暖，然后又用口吹热汤以凉之。萨梯因此与之断交，因为他用相同的口来呼出热气与冷气。这句话为不少作者引用，大多象征一个不能信赖的人。

在中国，成语‘朝三暮四’有相同的意思。这句成语来自战国时代(476 – 221 BC) 的列子所讲的一个故事：

宋有狙公者，爱狙，养之成群，能解狙之意，狙亦得公之心。损其家口，充狙之欲，俄而匮焉。
将限其食，恐众狙之不驯于己也，先誑之曰：“与若茅，朝三暮四，足乎？”众狙皆起而怒。俄而曰：“与若茅，朝四暮三，足乎？”众狙皆伏而喜。

这句成语原本是指容易被外表所骗的呆子，现在演变成指那些不一致或善变的不可信赖的人。