不旋踵

不旋踵

1. in a very short while

   • 面頌盛德，則夷也；不旋踵而背語，則蹠也。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     面颂盛德，则夷也；不旋踵而背语，则蹠也。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. late 16^th century, Tu Long,《冥寥子游》(The Travels of Mingliaozi), rendered into English by Lin Yutang

     Miàn sòng shèngdé, zé Yí yě; bùxuánzhǒng ér bèi yǔ, zé Zhí yě. [Pinyin]

     When we praise a person, we compare him to the saint Bo Yi, and as soon as he has turned away, we talk behind his back and compare him to the thief Zhi [a legendary figure in ancient China, fl. 475 BCE, commonly condemned as a notorious thief].

This word can have two opposite meanings, literally 不 (bù, “not”) + 旋踵 (xuánzhǒng), the latter happening to be synonymous. Thus on encountering the word we shall always infer the meaning from the context. Take the following sentence for example:

使夫王公大人而計出於此，則吾未見其不旋踵而敗也。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

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使夫王公大人而计出于此，则吾未见其不旋踵而败也。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

From: 1056, 蘇洵 (Su Xun),《權書》

Shǐ fú wánggōng dàrén ér jì chūyú cǐ, zé wú wèijiàn qí bù xuánzhǒng ér bài yě. [Pinyin]

If those in power [kings, dukes and ministers] formulate their strategies from such a mindset, then I see no way they can avoid a defeat within the time it takes to turn their heels.

Here it should be comprehended as 未見其不 + 旋踵而敗, that is, a double negative.