斤: Jin, a unit of weight (=1/2 kilogram)
两: Liang, a unit of weight (=1/10 jin)
半: Half, half of
八: Eight
Actually, in ancient China, 1 jin was equal to 16 liang, so half jin was eight liang.
Literal translation: Half jin and eight liang.
It means two or more things or people equally suck; not much to choose between the two.
Corresponding English idom: Tweedledum and tweedledee; as broad as it is long; birds of a feather.
Example sentence: You wanna teach him English? You two are actually two birds of a feather.
(你还想着教他英语？你俩水平半斤八两.)
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