So happy that they can’t control themselves and lose their normal attitude. It means that a shallow person forgets the attitude he should hold when he gets a little bit of ambition.
Idiom Pronunciation:
得意忘形
dé yì wàng xíng
Origin book:
《晋书·阮籍传》：“嗜酒能啸，善弹琴。当其得意，忽忘形骸。”
Origin Story:
Ruan Ji, a native of Chenliu Yushi, was a famous poet during the alternate periods of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. His father died when he was very young. Although his family was in a difficult situation, he studied hard and became a famous poet of his time.
Ruan Ji had great ambition and hoped to make a career in politics. However, he was dissatisfied with the ruling Sima clan, but he did not dare to express his opinions and ideas clearly, so he took the attitude of not getting involved in right and wrong, or studying behind closed doors; or climbing mountains and facing the water; or being drunk; or keeping his mouth shut. In addition, he also wrote poems to express his inner thoughts. For example, in his very famous 82 poems, Ruan Ji uses a roundabout and subtle language to express his feelings of worry and avoidance of the world.
His good friend JI Kang, a famous literary scholar of the time, also held contempt and disgust for the rule of the Sima family. Although Ruan Ji and Jikang were particularly close, Ruan Ji disliked Jikang’s brother, Jixi. It is said that Ruan Ji could make “green and white eyes”. The “green eye” is the black eye, the two eyes look straight, the eye on the black more; two eyes squint, the eye on the white more, is “white eye”. When Ruan Ji treated an unpopular person, he would look at him with white eyes. According to “The Book of Jin – The Biography of Ruan Ji”, when Ruan Ji’s mother died, JI Xi went to mourn, and Ruan Ji gave him white eyes; then JI Kang came with wine and qin to offer his condolences, and Ruan Ji changed to green eyes. As a result of this story, the words “dropping green”, “green eyes” and “green shine” came into being, meaning to ask or thank someone for looking up to you. At the same time, to describe contempt is called white eyes, such as “white eyes to people” and “being white eyes”.
In addition to Jikang, Ruan Ji’s close friends included Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, and his nephew Ruan Xian. The seven of them often got together under the bamboo forest in Shanyang, gossiping, drinking, writing poems, playing the piano, laughing when they were happy, and crying when they were unhappy, and were called the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest” by the world. Among these seven, Ruan Ji was probably the most insane, especially when he was drunk, and often cried and laughed uncontrollably. This is why the Book of Jin describes him as “a man who, when he was pleased, suddenly forgot his own form”.
This is the origin of the idiom of “Ecstasy to loss of normality”.
Similar Idioms:
- 忘乎所以
- 自鸣得意
- 得意洋洋
- 趾高气扬
