雷 leí (lay)
Literally “thunder.” Used to indicate shock or surprise or outrage (or any emotion that might be represented by the image of someone being thunderstruck). Moreover, on both the Internet and in real life 雷人 léirén (lay ren), literally “thunder person,” has come to mean “outrageous” or “shocking” or “absurd.” One especially common expression is 太雷人了 tài léirén le (tie lay ren luh), meaning “too outrageous” or “that’s so stupid” or “that’s insane.”
汗 hàn (hahn)
Means “sweat” and is used, usually in reply, to indicate feeling embarrassed or dumbfounded (that is, an emotion that makes you sweat).
泪 lèi (lay)
Means “tear” or “teardrop” and used online to express sadness or crying.
晕 yūn (een)
Means “dizzy” or “faint” and is often used to express surprise, shock, amusement, or disgust; that is, emotions that might make you feel faint.
我倒 wǒ dǎo (wuh daow)
Literally, “I fall over.” Used the same way as yūn (above).
VoV
Represents a person holding up two peace signs on either side of his or her face.
闪
The character 闪 shǎn (shahn) means “flash” and is used in online chatting to mean “leaving,” as when you leave a chat room-you might say 我闪了 wǒ shǎn le (wuh shahn luh), “I’m leaving”-or “avoid doing something.”
Insults and mockery
BS
Usually means the English “bullshit” but may also stand for 鄙视 bǐshì (bee shih), which literally means “despise.”
JP
Stands for 极品 jípǐn (gee peen), literally “extreme conduct.” Basically means “weirdo” or, rather, an eccentric or anyone who behaves unconventionally.
LB
Stands for 篱笆 líbā (lee bah), the name of an online forum (Liba) known for being popular among materialistic girls. Vapid, shallow girls, then, are often dismissively described as
LB.
BC
Stands for 白痴 báichī (buy chih), or “idiot.”
SL
Stands for 色狼 sèláng (suh lahng), or “pervert.”
永久性脑残 yǒngjǐu xìng nǎocán (yohng joe sheeng now tsahn)
Literally means something like “permanent brain damage” and used to comment on someone or something you find weird or crazy.
小白 xiǎobái (shaow buy)
Layman, novice, someone with little knowledge about something (such as computers). Literally “little white.” Refers to 白痴 báichī (buy chih), which means “idiot.”
菜鸟 caìniǎo (tsie nyow-caì rhymes with “pie”)
Newbie. Literally “food bird.” Pigeons raised for food are of a lower class than homing pigeons, and thus the phrase is used to describe junior-level people in various fields.
国猪 guózhū (gwuh joo)
Literally “country’s pigs” or “national pigs.” An insulting pun on 国足 guózú (gwuh dzoo) (zhū and zú sound similar), which is the term for China ’s national soccer team-a target of much abuse among soccer fans due to its poor performance and frequently scandalous or embarrassing behavior. Speaking of which…
我是洗澡来的 wǒ shì xǐzǎo laí dè (wuh shih she dzow lie duh)
Literally, “I just came here to take a shower.” Refers to a 2008 scandal when members of the Chinese national soccer team got caught checking into a hotel with a bunch of women who may or may not have been hookers. One of them protested by saying, “I just came here to take a shower.” Now the phrase is often used as a euphemism for any feeble excuse.
恐龙 kǒnglóng (kohng lohng-like “Kong” and “long” but pronounced with a long o, or oh, sound)
Online slang for an ugly girl. Literally “dinosaur.”
青蛙 qīngwā (ching wah)
Online slang for an ugly guy. The counterpart to “dinosaur” (above). Literally means “frog.”
拍砖 paīzhuān (pie jwahn)
Literally means “smack with a brick.” Used online when strongly criticizing someone or something. For example, you might say 请拍砖 qǐng pāizhuān (ching pie jwahn), literally “please smack with a brick,” to mean “prove it”; or 我拍砖 wǒ pāizhuān (wuh pie jwahn), literally “I smack with a brick,” to mean “here’s what I think.”
Dirty/lewd/slangy
牛 niú (nyoo)
Literally means “cow” and used to call someone or something “awesome.” Short for niúbī (see chapter 1), which means “fuckin’ awesome.”
NB
Stands for 牛屄 niúbī (nyoo bee), which can negatively mean something like “cocky bastard” or positively refer to a daring, impressive person or thing-someone or something that is “fuckin’ badass” (see chapter 1). Is also frequently written using the character 牛 plus any other Chinese character pronounced bee, such as 逼 bī, “to force,” or 比 bǐ, an indication of comparison. The real character 屄 bī (bee) cannot be typed on most computers and thus is almost never used.
装 B
Stands for 装屄 zhuāngbī (jwahng bee), which means “fucking poser” or “fake motherfucker.” 装 Zhuāng (jwahng) means “pretend” and bī indicates niúbī (see previous entry and chapter 1), meaning “fucking badass.” Thus the term implies that you are pretending to be badass. Some online users write “IB” or “install B” instead because zhuāng can also mean “install.”
SB or 傻 B
Stands for 傻屄 shǎbī (shah bee), which means something like “stupid cunt” or “motherfucker.” Literally “idiot’s pussy.” Also frequently written 傻逼 shǎbī or 傻比 shǎbǐ; that is, substituting a similar-sounding character for 屄.
TMD
Stands for 他妈的 tāmāde (ta ma duh), literally “his mother’s,” implying “fuck his mother’s pussy.” A moderately strong curse word. Sometimes shortened to MD, for 妈的 māde (ma duh), literally “mother’s.”
Some of these abbreviations can be combined, for example, TMDSB stands for 他妈的傻 B tāmāde shǎbī (ta ma duh shah bee), which is equivalent to saying something like “fucking stupid” or “stupid-ass shit” or “goddamn stupid cunt.”
NND or TNND
Stands for 奶奶的 naǐnaǐ de (nigh nigh duh) or 他奶奶的 tā naǐnaǐ de (ta nigh nigh duh). Literally “grandmother’s” or “his grandmother’s” and implies the larger phrase “fuck your grandmother.” However, this fragment alone means something slightly less profane, closer to “shit” or “damn.”
QQXX
Stands for 我圈圈你个叉叉 wǒ quān quān nǐ gè chā chā (wuh chren chren nee guh cha cha), a euphemistic way of saying “fuck you.” 圈 Quān (chren), literally “circle,” refers to a penis here, while 叉 chā (cha), literally “cross,” refers to pussy. Literally, it means “I circle your cross.”