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There's a set phrase that goes something like:

  • (我)管你张三还是李四

I've seen variations on it like:

  • 我管你张静还是李静呢

I'm trying to remember one where the surname stays the same though, something like:

  • 管你是张飞还是张家辉

What common variants on this phrase exist where the surname stays the same?

Mou某
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    Google's wildcard + verbatim search is your friend. Type "管你是Ｓ*還是Ｓ*", including the double quotes, replacing Ｓ with a surname (王, 陳, 李, ...). For example, for 李 – dROOOze Aug 14 '19 at 07:42
  • @droooze Does that only work with single character wildcards? – Mou某 Aug 14 '19 at 08:07
  • The wildcard * stands for either (0 or more characters) or (1 or more characters). If you're asking whether "**" works, to force return two-character results, I don't know, sorry :( – dROOOze Aug 14 '19 at 08:20
  • The first name is usually the right one while the second name is usually a variant name that is a joke or irony etc based on the first one, they may not the same name or surname necessarily. – xenophōn Sep 24 '19 at 05:28
  • No matter what are the variants, do keep in mind that this sentence means: i don't care who you are It could be anything. – Raynoceros Nov 08 '19 at 04:29

3 Answers3

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"我管你张三还是李四" literally means "I care you are John, Dick or Harry". And the actual meaning is "我(不)管你张三还是李四" meaning "I (don't) care you are John, Dick or Harry"

Using the opposite term "管" (care) instead of the actual term "不管" (don't care) is a sarcastic way of making a statement.

What common variants on this phrase exist where the surname stays the same?

It is not a set phrase, you can substitute any names/nouns to indicate "I don't care who you are". For example: "我(不)管你是皇帝还是王八", "我(不)管你成龍还是成蟲"

  • When someone said he is the emperor but you don't care, you can say "我管你皇帝还是王八"

  • When Jackie Chan demands you to do something because he is Jackie Chan, and you don't want to do it, and don't care it is Jackie who demanded it, you can say "我管你成龍还是成蟲"

One more: "我管你特朗普还是特朗通，你是个混蛋" roughly translated as "I don't care you are Donald Trump or Donald Dumb, you are an asshole"

Tang Ho
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  • Did you read the question at all? – Mou某 Aug 14 '19 at 03:28
  • Your edit is still 答非所问. – Mou某 Aug 14 '19 at 04:05
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    The question itself asking for list of variants of a set phrase, but it is not a set phrase. you can have thousands of variant, the sky is the limit. My answer should be -- There's too many to list. If you don't care who I am, you can even say "我管你 Tang Ho 还是 Tang Oh, your answer is wrong" – Tang Ho Aug 14 '19 at 04:09
  • Actually, I take it back. "管你成龍还是成蟲" is not bad, it's kind of what I was looking for. I'm only asking for common variants on this structure where the surnames remains the same. – Mou某 Aug 14 '19 at 04:21
  • 管你毛澤東还是毛澤西; 管你李小龍还是李小虎; 管你鄭少秋还是鄭少春.... on and on, limited only by people's imagination – Tang Ho Aug 14 '19 at 04:27
  • Yeah, but "管你成龍还是成蟲" does get a couple hundred google hits, so it's common enough to be mentioned. "毛澤東还是毛澤西" gets about nine hits, so it's practically non-existent - same with "管你李小龍还是李小虎" & "管你鄭少秋还是鄭少春." – Mou某 Aug 14 '19 at 05:02
  • @user3006356 There's nothing common or uncommon about this. Usually people improvise according to the context. On the contrary, if one of such is already used a lot of times, people might feel it's old and out of style and boring. – trisct Aug 16 '19 at 11:44
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Sometimes, it doesn't matter how many variants there are, normally it depends on who you're talking to. Say the person you're talking to is 张静, you can change according to the context. If you need to emphasize on surname, you change surname, if you need to emphasize on name, you substitute a word for the name.

Some of the celebrities' names are used, because the word to substitute has some opposite meanings, such as 龙 vs 虫， 秋 vs 春，东 vs 西 etc

sylvia
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管你X还是Y, 只要是Z
只要是Z, 管你X还是Y
The key is really what is Z, not X nor Y.

There are unlimited variants of X and Y for this phrase. I don't see how remembering the same surname would be useful for mastering this phrase. You should be focusing on the differences between Z and (X,Y)

wada
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