拎得清

拎得清

Literally means:

understand the situation

Actually means:

be canny

It refers to awareness of the situation or things or understanding how to handle things in sensible way. It often implies good sense in such situations as whether some words are to be spoken, how to and to what extent should they be spoken; whether things are to be done, how to and to what extent should they be done. In other words, it means good knowledge of the propriety in speech and behavior. It can be applied to both good and bad things.

指对事情或情况很清楚，或明事理，识时务。常含有下面的意思：话该不该说，该怎么说，说到什么程度，以及事情该不该做，该怎么做，做该怎么到什么程度都很清楚，能做到说话办事恰到好处。适用于好的或不怎么好的事情。