jenny's blog

你的良心不会痛吗？
Nǐ de liángxīn bù huì tòng ma?

海螺人
Hǎiluó rén

海螺人 refers to those people look elegant, obedient and quiet, and they look just like ordinary people, but as long as you get close, try to listen to their voices, you can see that they are actually people with a great personality, has cultured opinions.

Interestingly,

海螺 actually means conch.
人 just means person.

懂事崩
Dǒngshì bēng

This is a very interesting term that serves to describe many of the working young adults these days. As a young adult that is fresh in the workforce, they often find themselves in situations where their emotions and moods are in a mess yet they can't let these personal emotions and feelings affect their work. Therefore, they can only collapse after working and wake up again the next day as per normal.

靠脸吃饭
Kào liǎn chīfàn

Lets breakdown this phrase:
靠: refers to dependent or dependence
脸: refers to face
吃饭: refers to eating rice

Therefore, it refers to someone who relies on their face or appearances to earn a living. Generally, the chinese main staple is rice therefore they equate earning a living with being able to afford eating rice or a meal.

扎心了老铁 or 扎心了! 老铁
(Zhā xīnle lǎo tiě)

First, let me explain the individual terms within this phrase.
老铁 (lao tie): It is a slang used usually by those from the Northern parts of China. It is used to refer to someone you know and is close to, and it signifies a sense of brotherhood. It is similar to the word 'Brother/Bro' in English.
However, for those from the previous generation in the past, it used to signify those illegitimate relationships such as mistresses but the meaning was more implicit.

吐槽 (tu cao)

The word actually originates from Japan, from the medium called Anime.
This is very interesting. The meaning is to find a loophole in one's words and purposely acting out against what they intended.
Another way to 吐槽 someone is also when your friend or family member is purposely bragging and then you come out and say the truth right in front of them.

However, this has a comedic intention.

吐 actually means spit/vomit.
槽 actually means to groove.
So in a way, it means that you groove by 'spiting' on other people (ie make fun of)

膜拜 (mo bai)

It means admiration and worship. It refers to the act of putting one's hands together in a flat manner and placing your hands above your head -- a form of prayer and worship.

However, on the internet, it can sometimes also be used in a manner that is ironic. For instance, this can be when someone did something incredibly naive or dumb, another person can say "哇，我膜拜你了” (wa, wo mo bai ni le) which means like "wow, I admire you" but of course this is meant in an ironic way.

脑补 (Nǎo bǔ)

This is a very interesting term. It refers to brain supplements but it is not usually used in everyday conversations. Instead, it is usually used in comics, or novels to describe a character being upgraded in their mental state. However, we know that these can't happen in real life but such fantasies are possible, and also commonly used as plot points in stories.

One example is the famous movie, Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson who took some drugs which caused her brain power and capacity to improve tenfolds. This is what the Chinese would describe as 脑补.

洪荒之力 (Hónghuāng zhī lì)

In 2015, in a popular Chinese drama called 《花千骨》, 洪荒之力 was used to describe the strongest power in the drama, power that is so strong that it can destroy the world. However, in 2016, during the Rio Olympic Women's 100m backstroke semi-final, the Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui said in an interview: "我已经用了洪荒之力” with a comedic expression and the internet immediately caught on.

Therefore, it is now used to describe that you have put in the upmost effort and have exhausted your powers.

颜值 (Yán zhí) is an online term.

颜 is found in 容颜 (rongyan) which means appearance. Therefore, the word 颜 is commonly associated appearances.
值 means value or worth.

Therefore, when it is placed together, it means face value. It is used by netizens to measure the appearances of people. In a way, with the advert of social media, it can be represented by the number of likes a person gets.

So for example, someone who is very good looking would be referred to as 颜值高 (yan zhi gao)