一概而论
- Literal
- with a single leveling stick, and so judge
- Figurative
- To lump different things together and judge them all alike; almost always negated, as in 不能一概而论: "you can't generalize; it depends."
Where does 一概而论 come from?
The phrase goes back to "Huaisha," a poem by Qu Yuan collected in the Songs of Chu. In it he laments that jade and common stone are mixed together and measured with the same 概, the wooden strickle drawn across a grain measure to level it off. Measuring the precious and the worthless with one stick was, to him, a failure to tell things apart. Hence the sense of judging different things as if they were the same. Today it almost always appears negated, as 不能一概而论 or 不可一概而论, to warn that each case is different.
Source (出处): 《楚辞·九章·怀沙》
How is 一概而论 used? Two examples
- 每个孩子性格不同，教育方法不能一概而论。
Every child has a different temperament, so there is no one-size-fits-all way to raise them.
- 加班多不多要看部门，不能一概而论。
How much overtime you do depends on the department; you can't generalize.
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