"To shoot a shadow with sand in the mouth" literally means holding sand in one's mouth and spraying it at a person's shadow. The idiom originates from Volume 12 of Gan Bao's *In Search of the Supernatural* (Soushen Ji) from the Jin Dynasty, which records a monster called "yu," also known as "short fox," that lived in the waters of the south and could spray sand at people from its mouth. Those whose shadows were struck would fall ill or even die. Later, this idiom came to mean attacking, slandering, or framing others through insidious means in secret, usually without directly naming the target but instead using innuendo, insinuation, and other indirect methods to carry out malicious smears. It is typically used to describe scheming and backstabbing in interpersonal relationships, underhanded attacks in the workplace, or veiled barbs in political struggles. Its emotional tone is clearly derogatory, expressing condemnation of and dissatisfaction with treacherous behavior. Culturally, it reflects ancient people's fear of unknown poisonous creatures and serves as a vivid concretization of the rhetorical device of "insinuation" in language. Compared with "pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree" (making oblique accusations), it places greater emphasis on covert attacks and insidious methods, and often carries a defamatory nature.
📝 Example
1. He praised his colleague on the surface, but was actually making insinuations, hinting that the other person was not competent enough.
2. This commentary made insinuations in criticizing the corrupt behavior of certain officials. Although no names were mentioned, readers knew exactly who was meant.