Mandarin Monday: Good Morning C, Good Night A
Mandarin Monday is a column where we help you improve your Chinese by detailing learning tips, fun and practical phrases, and trends.
It's that time of the year again when every media outlet publishes enough year-in-review articles to make your head spin. But as headlines are still largely dominated by the waxing and waning of infection numbers, and a veritable alphabet soup of new virus variants crops up around the world, it seems the pandemic is still front and center these days.
Luckily, the internet wasn't invented during the pandemic, and it still stands as a refuge where we can escape the doom and gloom of the past two years, as people continuously pour their creativity into the virtual world for the rest of us to enjoy. And if there's one thing that underwent significant changes this year thanks to creativity, it's language. Today, we'll take a look at some of the slang terms that caught fire on Chinese social media throughout 2021, as well as a peek at the trends that birthed them.
永远的神
yǒngyuǎn de shén
The Chinese version of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), this phrase basically has the same meaning – not to mention exactly four letters – making for a sort of anti-culture shock bridge in an era when everyone prefers to communicate with shorthand, slang, and emojis.
嗑死我了
kē sǐ wǒle
"What a damn great couple."
While the government is encouraging citizens to have a third child, many young people can’t even be bothered to form a solid relationship. Instead, they choose to project their emotions and expectations into the virtual world that is TV shows, movies, anime, and games.
Here, they can safely witness all sorts of relationships unfold and develop, regardless of differences in age, race, gender, and other concerns. KSWL is a perfect phrase to use when you come across a love story that happens to tickle your sweet spot and fulfill your fantasies.
Finally, a word that most English speakers are familiar with. Yup, it's the same as its English counterpart, albeit a little less scientific. It's generally used to follow an event that might cause trauma to a person, from the slightest incident to the more profound, such as 996 PTSD, 11.11 PTSD, and so on.
jiā rénmen/jíměi
Were you treated like their fan, or played for suckers this past 11.11?
Fams/Sis
They aren't the words you'd want to use during a family gathering for the holidays, but more like an upgraded version of 亲 qīn (dear) that you may have seen countless times on Taobao. They are frequently used by livestreamers trying to pose as a close friend or persuade audiences that they're recommending a product out of pure sincerity. There is nothing wrong with this per se, but keep in mind that at the end of the day, it's all business.
jué jué zi
Either a way to express something extremely awesome or a way to satirize something utterly awful. Apparently, words like "good," "great," or even "awesome" are no longer enough to shoulder the strong emotions that people want to express online. So, along came this bizzare and confusing phrase to save the day.
Derived from the word 绝了 juéle which can be roughly translated as "awesome" or "impressive," Gen Alpha added another 绝 to double the awesomeness. While the actual reason for changing 了 to the 子 zi remains unknown, it's essentially a cuter way of ending a sentence and can be applied to other phrases containing 了, including 太美子 tàiměizi, 无敌子 wúdízi.
zǎo C wǎn A
Good morning C, Good night A
Originally, this phrase was invented by makeup bloggers to help people memorize their daily skincare routine, which usually starts in the morning with products rich in Vitamin C and ends with those containing Vitamin A before sleep. However, the working classes soon found they have neither the time nor the money to afford such a delicate lifestyle. Thus, it's been appropriated accordingly, with C and A still fitting into a day starting with Coffee and ending with Alcohol.
pò fáng
I thought nothing can harm me anymore
Armor break
A word that was frequently used in games to indicate when an attack has breached a character's defenses. In 2021, netizens appropriated it to describe moments when they felt as if their hearts and souls were touched, whether it was due to a tragic story that brought them to tears or an evil act that ignited their righteous fury.
In this day and age, people tend to put up a facade of indifference, and yet a trending, poignant story spreading online is all it takes to pierce that armor.
Read: Mandarin Monday: Learning Your ABCs... in Chinese
Images: Sohu, Goeast Mandarin, Win3000, NGA, Taobao
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