马马虎虎 宋代时京城有一个画家，作画往往随心所欲，令人搞不清他画的究竟是什么。一次，他刚画好一个虎头，碰上有人来请他画马，他就随手在虎头后画上马的身子。来人问他画的是马还是虎，他答：“马马虎虎！”来人不要，他便将画挂在厅堂。大儿子见了问他画里是什么，他说是虎，次儿子问他却说是马。 　　不久，大儿子外出打猎时，把人家的马当老虎射死了，画家不得不给马主赔钱。他的小儿子外出碰上老虎，却以为是马想去骑，结果被老虎活活咬死了。画家悲痛万分，把画烧了，还写了一首诗自责：“马虎图，马虎图，似马又似虎，长子依图射死马，次子依图喂了虎。草堂焚毁马虎图，奉劝诸君莫学吾。” 　　诗虽然算不上好诗，但这教训实在太深刻了，从此，“马虎”这个词就流传开了。 Ma ma hu hu (ma=horse, hu=tiger) During Song dynasty there was a painter lived in the capital of China who followed his inclinations to paint. One day he was painting the head of tiger, It so happened that one customer requested him to paint a horse, and he painted the body of horse after the head of tiger conveniently. Then the customer asked him "Is it a horse or tiger?",and he answered"Ma ma hu hu", the customer didn't like the painter, so the paiter hanged the it in the drawing room. His eldest child asked what he painted, he said it was a tiger, and when his second-born asked the same question, he said it was a horse. After some time, his eldest child went hunting outside, regarded another person's horse as a tiger and killed it, the painter have no choice but to compensate the horse owner. When his second-born went outside, he saw a tiger, regarded the tiger as a horse to ride, and bit by the tiger till he dead. The painter was deeply grieved, he burned the painting, and wrote a poetry to blame himself,"The painting of tiger's head and horse's body, looks like the horse and like the tiger at the same time, eldest child was misleaded and killed a horse, second-born was misunderstood and fed the tiger. I burned the painting today, advising all the world would not make the same mistake." It was not a good poetry, but the lesson was paid for with blood, and the Idiom of "Ma ma hu hu" circulated among the people.

清末 徐珂 所著 《清稗類鈔 方言類 上海方言》 記載 馬馬虎虎，顢頇也，實即模模糊糊之轉音耳。 宋人畫馬虎圖之故事 乃是近代人穿鑿附會 馬與虎之形態與聲音 天差地別 身為畫家 若無 據物勾勒 隨形賦彩的工夫 豈堪稱 畫家? 大小兒子豈又是如此愚昧 不辨啖人與依人之獸? 其謬可知 ！（不可信的故事） 馬馬虎虎 相似詞　敷衍了事﹑隨隨便便﹑因陋就簡 勉強將就，敷衍了事。 孽海花˙第六回：「馬馬虎虎逼著朝廷簽定，人不知鬼不覺依然把越南暗送。」 亦作「麻麻呼呼」﹑「麻麻糊糊」。