真糟糕，錢忘帶來了！

This is a fine kettle of fish! I forgot my money.

不理解，請教點評

My comments:

In other words, you’ve found yourself in a fine mess, i.e. a very awkward situation.

Further explanation, from Phrase.org.uk:

The earliest uses of the phrase, which apparently are examples of the ‘muddle’ meaning come from the English novelist Henry Fielding. In The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, 1742, he writes:

“‘Here’s a pretty kettle of fish’, cries Mrs. Tow-wouse.”

and, in The History of Tom Jones, 1749:

“Fine doings at my house! A rare kettle of fish I have discovered at last.”

Should there be any doubt about the meaning of the expression in Fielding’s uses of it, there’s an unambiguous explanation of the phrase in Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811:

“When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it.”

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.