Ever wondered what catchphrases Chinese young people use to communicate with their peers, especially what they would use online or send in their text messages? Let’s learn the popular ones below first! 神 (shén) God/unusual Originally, this character depicted a bolt of lightning. Ancient Chinese people couldn’t explain what caused lightning. They thought its power came from “God” or a “spiritual being.” When used as an adjective, 神 can mean “mysterious” or “unusual.” 好神 (hǎo shén) Very good 好 (Good) + 神 (God) = 好神 (Very good) This phrase is rarely used literally; instead, it is often meant to pay compliments to the person who just did something unbelievable or predict something very accurate. For example: 你好神！ (You’re very good!) 土 (tǔ) soil; ground; local; dull Initially, 土 depicted a lump of mud on the ground. Later, the lump became similar to the character for “ten” 十 and the ground indicated by the horizontal line 一. 土 means soil or ground. It can be used as an adjective as well. When used to describe a thing, it can mean “native” or “locally produced,” for example, 土產/土产 (tǔ chǎn; local product). However, when applied 土 to describe someone, it refers to them not seeing the big world! 好土 (hǎo tǔ) very dull; unsophisticated The phrase is commonly used to refer to someone who has bad taste in something, particularly in fashion or pop culture. Make sure you use this phrase cautiously because it can sound offensive to some Chinese people. 土味 (tǔ wèi) very dull; cheesy When used negatively, it can be interchangeable with the previous phrase: 好土 (hǎo tǔ). However, it also has a modern-day usage when combing with the phrase 情话 (qíng huà; love words/sayings), i.e. 土味情话 means “cheesy love words/sayings.” 雷人 (léi rén) shocking; appalling; hilarious Take 雷 and add the character 人 (person), then we get this online slang 雷人 implying someone or something is shocking, appalling or shockingly hilarious. As you can see, this phrase is used as an adjective, and its meaning can be positive or negative depending on the context. |
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