Barcamp Shanghai: Chinese Netizen Speak
BloggerInsight enjoyed attending barcamp earlier this month. Huiyu and Xiepan gave a presentation about hip Chinese netizen speak.
In order to give the audience a grasp the Chinese Internet culture in a short time, we selected some of the typical online slang. Now let’s take a quick look at the Top 3 phrases.
-杯具Bēi Jù – Cup: The literal meaning is a collective term of cups. Because it is homophone with the Chinese word for “tragedy” (they sound the same), people like to use this word to say that something bad has happened. For example, “Today I’m such a tragedy!”. Now the image of a cup can also indicate the same meaning.
-打酱油dǎ jiàng yóu – Getting soy sauce: Originally from a CCTV news interview. A man on the street was asked about his opinion towards Edison Chen photo scandal, he replied, “It’s none of my business. I’m just on my way to get some soy sauce.” Now people use it to express an attitude that they don’t care about some boring stuff, like “that gossip is boring, I’m just getting some soy sauce”.
-囧Jiǒng – Brightness: It shows vividly a downcast face. Although the original meaning is brightness, people like the amusing image very much. When people get embarrassed or shocked, they use the word to “show” others their facial expression. Now the word can be seen almost everywhere, in ads, in books, in art & design, etc. ”I’m so embarrassed JIONG!”
If you have any question about this topic or you want to share your favorite netizen speak, please feel free to leave a comment.
