手忙脚乱
- Literal
- busy hands, disordered feet
- Figurative
- To rush about in a flurry, doing several things at once with no order, out of haste or because something came up; it is not freezing up.
Where does 手忙脚乱 come from?
It does not come from a particular anecdote; the image explains itself. 手忙 means "busy hands" and 脚乱 "feet out of step," like someone darting back and forth without knowing what to deal with first. The two parallel halves show the whole body overwhelmed, with no part doing what it should. It is a very common expression in everyday speech for rushing and for surprises, more descriptive than reproachful and often a little humorous. Unlike 不知所措, the person here does not stand frozen: they move a lot, just with no order.
How is 手忙脚乱 used? Two examples
- 早上闹钟没响，我手忙脚乱地收拾东西出了门。
My alarm didn't go off this morning, so I grabbed my things in a frantic scramble and rushed out the door.
- 第一天上班什么都不熟，又要接电话又要打印文件，弄得我手忙脚乱。
On my first day at work I didn't know how anything worked; between answering phones and printing documents, I was scrambling the whole time.
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