China Hope Live » Chinese take-out

空调病

Joel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:12:35 +0000

Pronounced: kōngtiáo bìng
Means: “air conditioning disease”. You aren’t feeling sick because you spent all day out in the blazing hot sun in a humid Chinese summer and got heat stroke; you’re feeling sick because after spending all day out in the blazing hot sun not getting heat stroke you went inside and exposed yourself to the air conditioner. It’s not heat stroke; it’s air conditioner disease. If you still don’t believe:

正步

Joel — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:43:58 +0000

Pronounced: zhèngbù
Means: goose-stepping (in military parades). Also what Tianjin’s university sophomores have to do for hours each day this week . For example:
教官让我们踢很长时间正步。
jiàoguān ràng wǒmen tī hěn cháng shíjiān hèngbù.

臭美

Joel — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:43:55 +0000

Pronounced: chòu měi
Literally: “stinky beautiful”
Means: to smugly and shamelessly show off one’s good looks. Sometimes used in light teasing between friends.

三俗

Joel — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:04:57 +0000

Pronounced: sān sú
Means: The “Three Vulgarities” refers to things officially deemed vulgar (庸俗 yōngsú), low (低俗 dīsú), or pandering (媚俗 mèisú) in the ongoing anti-vulgarity censorship campaign that was launched in late July. English translations of the three vulgarities differ; see here and here to compare dictionary entries.

蓝精灵

Joel — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:18:27 +0000

Pronounced: lán jīnglíng
Literally: blue spirit/demon/fairy
Means: a Smurf, the Smurfs

临时抱佛脚

Joel — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:13:18 +0000

Pronounced: línshí bào fó jiǎo
Literally: “to clasp the Buddha’s feet in one’s hour of need.”
Means: professing devotion only when in trouble; to desperately plea for help at the last minute; to make a frantic last minute effort (in lieu of proper preparation); what a lot of Chinese high school seniors (and their parents) are doing today and tomorrow as millions of Chinese students take the all-important gāokǎo (高考) — the college entrance examination. These are the two days of reckoning for which Chinese children sacrifice their childhoods to their studies.

“…parents were streaming into the vermilion gates of the temples, to burn incense and pray for good scores. (One friend told me today about a fellow mother who is so crazed that she has been visiting Catholic churches as well, just for good measure.) The city itself even got into the spirit, ordering drivers to avoid honking, which might disturb students, and, in some places, closing down Internet cafes in the days before, to encourage studying.”

See: Why Does China Go Nuts Over a Test? and Two Stressful Days for China’s College Hopefuls