in the song dynasty(960-1279) there was a joker called sun shan. one year he went to take the imperial examination, and came bottom of the list of succes*ul candidates. back in his hometown, one of his neighbours asked him whether the neighbour's son had also passed. sun shan said, with a smile: "sun shan was the last on the list, your son came after sun shan."later, people used this idiom to indicate failing in an examination or competition. __