"天选" means "heaven's chosen," and "牧羊人," which literally means "shepherd," is a pun for "caretaker of COVID patients," as "羊" is a homophone of "阳" (meaning "positive" and short for "COVID positive"). As many people have tested positive for COVID in the recent flare-up of the pandemic in Chinese cities, the few who remain healthy in a family need to act as caretakers, and have been given this humorous nickname.
2022-12-30
"废话" means "nonsense," and "文学" means "literature." First seen in comments at streamsite Bilibili, this term refers to the contents that are meant to be humorous but with no substantial thoughts.
2022-12-29
Short for "冬天阴性打工人" (dōngtiān yīnxìng dǎgōngrén), this term literally means "an employee with a negative nucleic acid test result this winter," implying that whereas many others have tested positive for COVID and are on sick leave, this group has to keep working and perhaps shoulder more workload on their jobs.
2022-12-23
"全职"means “full-time," and "儿女" means "sons and daughters." Coined by Chinese netizens, this term refers to the young adults who, without a job, live with their parents.
2022-12-22
"细" means "thin" (as in a "thin thread"), and "狗" literally means "dog." Originally referring to a dog species recognized for its extremely slim body native to East China's Shandong Province, this term has been used by Chinese netizens to refer to very thin men.
2022-12-15
"网课" means "online class," and "爆破" means "bombing." As the COVID pandemic forced many students to move from classrooms on campus to online spaces, students and teachers have been more open to the risk of cyberattacks.
2022-12-09
Literally meaning "wonton wrapper," this term has been used by Chinese netizens as the nickname for La'eeb, the mascot of FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, because they find a resemblance in appearance between these two totally unrelated things.
2022-12-08
An acronym of "outfit of the day," this term refers to what someone is wearing on a particular day, usually in the context of fashion blogging. It can also mean a particularly fashionable outfit, or the photoshoot involved in taking an OOTD photo that one would post on their social network.
2022-12-01
Translated from the English term "gazelle company," it refers to any fast-growing company in the technology sector, and also possibly in food and beverage, retail, apparel, and other growth industries. Smaller in scale than "unicorns," these companies are compared to gazelles because these animals are excellent runners.
2022-11-25
The transliteration of the English word "lure," this term was first used in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to refer to lure fishing. This is a means of fishing by using a rod and reel, perhaps also a spinner, and artificial fishing lures.
2022-11-24
Short for "村里才通网络" (cūnlǐ cái tōng wǎngluò), this term literally means "the village has just got its access to the internet." Coined by Chinese netizens, this term is used to mock those who post or discuss old news because they have no idea of the latest updates. To say someone's village has just got an internet access is a joking way to say he or she is behind the time. It's similar to another saying which was popular a few years ago: Are you from Mars?
2022-11-18
Literally translated as "I didn't offend any of you," this line was frequently used by a Chinese blogger on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese social media platform, as a complaint about a random mishap. It's as if to say, "I did nothing to deserve this." Other netizens quickly posted pictures of various celebrities or animated characters with a puzzled, angry or grudging look with this sentence as the subtitle, making it a catchphrase this year.
2022-11-11
Literally meaning 'it makes people bald," this is a hilarious variant of "令人头疼" (lìngrén tóuténg, meaning "to give someone a headache"). It's used to describe a tough problem that is continuously pestering the speaker. As young people today worry a lot about becoming prematurely bald due to an unhealthy lifestyle and stress from life, prevention and treatment of baldness is a hot topic. Therefore, Chinese netizens find this usage vivid.
2022-11-10
"电子" means "electronic," and "榨菜" refers to "pickled mustard tuber." This term, coined by Chinese netizens, refers to stories, essays, videos, TV shows or movies that we read or watch on our phones or computers and can provide light-hearted fun at mealtime.
2022-11-08
"页" is short for "网页" (wǎngyè， literally means "web page")， and "游" is short for "游戏" (yóuxì， literally means "game"). A term familiar to Chinese gamers, this refers to "browser games," or "browser-based games."
2022-11-04
Literally translated as "to step forward in times of need," this term was first used in Northeast China's dialect to praise someone who is brave and willing to extend a helping hand when their friends are in trouble. This term went viral earlier this year after Chinese netizens used it to describe Lu Di, a character in the thriller TV series "Reset." Sometimes it's used humorously on a pet to praise its bravery.
2022-11-03
"婉" is short for "委婉" (wěiwǎn, meaning "politely, not bluntly"), "拒" means "to reject," while both "了" and "哈" are auxiliary words that imply an easygoing and polite attitude of the speaker. Translated as “I will politely say no to your offer,” this line was reportedly first used by a public relations representative to refuse a journalist's offer to interview a senior official of his company.
2022-11-01
"少巴胺" is a play on words and coined by Chinese netizens as the opposite of "多巴胺" (duōbā’àn, meaning dopamine), and "生活" means "life." The term "low dopamine-level life" refers to a simple thrifty lifestyle that focuses on a minimal satisfaction of desires. People following this lifestyle live a more leisurely life, earn less money and spend less.
2022-10-28
“天选” means “chosen by fate,” and “打工人” means “employee.” This term, coined by Chinese netizens, refers to a person whose home and office venues are not under lockdown during the hardest-hit times of the COVID and whose nucleic acid test remains negative, so that they can have a green QR code and go to the office to work. The phrase went viral on WeChat Moments when people posted photos of themselves going to work when many others in their city were under lockdown.
2022-10-27
Literally translated as "to beat magic with magic," this line first appeared in the comical kungfu animation series titled "Jackie Chan Adventures" that ran between the years of 2000 and 2005 on Kids WB TV. The phrase means that employing the same tactics used by their enemies to fight against them.
2022-10-21
