Would having a list of common 成语 be a good idea? Might be fun to study. Ideally you'd want to have a little bit of back story for some of them, although there's not really much space in the definition for that.

I found a list of difficult pinyin in chengyu:

http://qzone.qq.com/blog/854119708-1230469821

I second the motion.

Hmmm, without pinyin and definition review I don't know how well you could learn chengyu.
But I don't see any harm in uploading a chengyu list before these things are implemented.

I have a book with 100 chengyu and their classical explanation. I promised Nick I'd sent it to them, but I need to simplify the definitions before I do that...and I'm in exam period now but holidays are coming up so I'll do it then. Would you guys think it best if we just created a forum thread and we all added them there for a list after?

Hmm; a forum thread has more visibility, but a Google Doc is better for collaboration.

One thing that's going to come quite soon is the custom list builder. Scott actually had it done and working, but then decided to change the way lists are stored so that saving them would be faster. He's almost done with that, and then a 成语 list would be great as a custom list.

Google docs are perhaps easier, as you can correct any mistakes.

Ok, then I'll make a Google doc, I can start after the 24th. That should be fun ^-^

Looking forward to those customs lists...

The custom lists are getting there! Would be working on it right now but I'm taking some off time, and am currently at my 5 year high school reunion, sans laptop for once. Oh man but the custom lists are going to be flipping sweet when they're done.

Sans laptop but avec internet connection :)

Nick, I'm interested to know (if you know) how many chengyu are already in your lists?

I have no idea. However many are in HSK plus the 20-some other textbooks we have, plus whatever people have added as a widget. I don't have any way of distinguishing 成语 from other four-character words, though.

Making a 成语 list, though, would be a good opportunity to standardize their definition styles.

I agree on the definition list. If you have the number of 4-letter words, that would be a good approximation I guess.

Discussing Everything Chinese I chapter 8 has some 成语 vocab。

Thanks Chloe, I like this definition:

doughty as a dragon and lively as a tiger

偷裤子放屁 is entertaining as well.

It should perhaps be 脱 rather than 偷