I asked around today and got the following answer:
牛牽到北京還是牛
It was also mentioned that this could possibly come from Taiwanese.
Web searches indicate that is likely a Taiwan-ism, though it’s a really awesome one.
Similar, but different:
江山易改，本性難移 – You can move mountains and rivers, but (human) nature doesn’t change.
Apparently, in China they say 狗改不了吃屎 (A dog can’t change its inclination to eat feces), which is much more crass.
Those two I think refer to particularly stubborn people, rather than something like the quality of a home.
And my favourite…
雞同鴨講
Chickens talking to ducks.
‘Communication problems… No mutual understanding’
They say that in Taiwan too, or do you see Taiwan as part of China… 
Just used that one on the wife. It wentr down very well :bravo:.
describe went down very well, did it get her to chuckle? or are you being ironic and she started asking if you think she is 雞?
Nope, just never heard it here, and all the websites that came up when I Google searched were simplified Chinese.
I hear that frequently from my wife and she’s Taiwanese. Just add 臺灣 when googling it and you’ll find that it’s common in Taiwan too.
Yeah, 狗改不了吃屎 is pretty common in Taiwan. Maybe you’re running with a more classy crowd?
Hello,
Does anyone know of a Chengyu or Yanyu that could describe the following situations?
- English = to be all talked out. To have spent so much time talking that you can talk no more.
- English = to open up a can of worms. Example - if you let Taiwanese students know that you can speak Chinese, they won’t make the effort to try to communicate with you in English.
Thanks for any help.
Not exactly, but close
言無不盡 Talk until nothing is left (on your heart)
Apologies for turning this into a request thread. 
Does anyone know of a 成語 that can be used to describe the English idiom “to treat like a piece of shit”? For example, “Her grandmother treats her Indonesian helper like a piece of shit”.
I really am that crude. 
Thanks
I’m just going to go ahead and turn this thread into a listing of interesting chengyu I come across. A lot of these are passive knowledge for me and by typing them out, hopefully I can keep them near the front of my brain.
Theme: Can’t get no satisfaction.
-
差強人意
cha qiang ren yi – acceptable, but only just barely so (what I think of the new TV series “The Strain”) -
不孚眾望
bu fu zhong wang – leaving people disappointed (how many felt about “Star Trek Into Darkness”) -
文不加點
wen bu jia dian – immaculate writing that could not be made better (how I feel about “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”)
These are excellent phrases to know. Thanks.
But perhaps I am not completely sure what technically makes up a 成語. Does something like 不孚眾望 constitute 成語? It literally just means “Not up to the audience’s expectations.” I thought that 成語 usually have a meaning that is not so readily apparent.
I’ve definitely heard it here as well.
Well, the phrases show up in a 成語辭典, so that’s the basis I’m going on. 
I’m actually not sure where the academic boundaries lie between 成語 and 俚語 and 俗語. My elitist mindset is 成語 sound learned while the other two sound like what countryfolk would say (嫁狗隨狗, etc.)
狐埋狐搰 hu li hu hu – Lit: the fox buries something just to dig it up again. A statement that someone worries or doubts too much about little things. (“Did I leave the oven on??”)
^I don’t think it’s often used. I’ve only seen it show up in the wild once.
v This one’s more common.
疑神疑鬼 yi shen yi gui – Lit. To doubt the gods and the ghosts. Untrusting/suspicious, like a wife (or husband) constantly worrying that her (his) other half is getting into sexy trouble.
EX: Beijing’s relations with the DPP were marred by both sides’ suspicious natures.
Second post: not exactly a chengyu, but it’s probably among my list of most-used “learned-sounding” phrases.
治標不治本 : Treating the symptoms, not the illness; failing to get to the root of the problem; sweeping it under the rug (OK that last one’s a little bit of a stretch).
Saw this on the news one night and it has been my favorite ever since:
不了了之 （to settle something by leaving it unsettled)
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I think the meaning is more like, “a matter is not really settled in the end because it is not dealt with” or “a matter (plan, idea, project etc.) comes to nothing, because people stop dealing with it (because it’s a bad idea, it’s too tricky, difficult, mafan, etc.”. If you say “to settle something by leaving it unsettled”, it sounds like a solution for settling things. Like things will be sorted out by themselves if you leave them alone.