zhǐ​shàng​tán​bīng

armchair strategist

纸上谈兵 紙上談兵 zhǐ​shàng​tán​bīng
armchair strategist
lit. discussing military tactics on paper; used to describe theoretical talk that is impractical or useless in reality; idle theorizing; alludes to Zhao Kuo of the Warring States period, whose theoretical knowledge of military strategy led to the disastrous defeat of the Zhao army at the Battle of Changping

Frequency

Movie subtitles
0.480 per million appears in 0% of films
Written text
0.836 per million

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