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Looking for something authoritative.

  • What is the origin of the 不让[能]踩门槛 phrase?

  • Earliest usage?

Mou某
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  • I don't think it's a real phrase. It's just a cultural thing which old people used to told me long time ago, but they didn't really say why. You can also refer to the custom as 别踩门槛\门槛不能踩 and as much sentences as you can made up for the meaning. So I think if you are interested in the origin of the custom maybe you'd use another tag instead of "phrase" – user1228520 Mar 20 '15 at 02:10

2 Answers2

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I don't know if my answer is absolutely right. There is a famous book named Di-Zi-Gui (弟子规）from Confucianism（儒学）. You know, Confucianism was prevailing for a long time in China. As I know, Di-Zi-Gui is a book to teach children moral precepts and standards.

《弟子规》：“勿践阈，勿跛倚，勿箕踞，勿摇髀……” The first one is 勿践阈 勿 means 'don't 不能',践 means ‘踩’，阈 means ‘门槛’

However, I don't know if this is the earliest usage. From my memory, I was told by my grandparents that 门槛 means all the trouble and setback in our life，we better walking cross the trouble instead of stepping right onto (踩到）the trouble. So that is what we usually do in temples--不踩门槛，跨过门槛。 I hope this is helpful!

Yan
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You already checked out the Great God 百度， Knower of All Things??

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/131761825.html

忌踩门槛这一风俗始于先秦时期, 那时臣子门出入君主的门户时，不能踩着门槛，只能侧身进出，区分地位尊卑。这也是后世不踩门槛表示尊重的来源。另外，在过去，门槛的木枋与房梁正顶的主枋取自同一根木方枋。正梁有镇宅护平安的“效用”，门槛自然也具备护宅镇家的“功能”。

Pedroski
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