A natal cleft, a tramp stamp, or a muffin top – sometimes our eyes have to put up with a lot from the people around us. Whenever your visual pain limits are tested again in day-to-day life and are leaving you speechless, simply resort to Chinese. As is often the case, Mandarin has delightfully vivid […]
Lovers in China are willing to “trade an entire universe for a small adzuki bean” (一整个宇宙换一颗红豆 yī zhěnggè yǔzhòu huàn yī kē hóngdòu). At least, that’s how singer Fish Leong (梁静茹Liáng Jìngrú) originally sang it in her 2009 song “Love Song” (情歌 qínggē). The boy band beaus of “Mayday” (五月天 Wǔyuètiān) from Taiwan already wondered […]
At work, we pitch projects using fancy powerpoints, juggle millions, create trend-setting analyses. And at home? We are reduced to poop shoveling officials by our pets.China’s linguistic acrobats have long since faced this reality and packaged it in the charming term of 铲屎官 chǎnshǐguān, lately a tongue-in-cheek synonym for “pet owner”. The ironic self-title is […]
As we all know, there is plenty of hogwash on the Internet. But you should be especially careful not to be butchered by a pig scammer. At least that’s what you would be advised to do in China. Meaning: Don’t be fooled by a love scammer. Because scammers looking to squeeze every last yuan out […]
Here is a short Mandarin mystery quiz to kick off the week: what is a 口水战 kǒushuǐzhàn – literally, a “spit fight” or a “saliva war”? Is it:A: a spitting contestB: a heated debateC: a far-too-wet French kissD: a pushy food battle at the buffetWhen a heated argument boils up so that not fists are […]
Well, have you ever casually made a U-turn at the wheel in an airy T-shirt? Or, when looking at the V-neckline of a Tinder date, inwardly rejoiced that nature had not punished you with either knock-knees or bow-legs? After all, it’s a well-known fact that you stand a better chance at courtship if you look […]
The weather, world events, the weekend TV program – these are three popular lifelines that we like to cling to when a conversation is about to turn awkward. In China, too, we are familiar with such small-talk dilemmas, in which participants try their hardest to wring the last remaining topics out of their brains to […]
You think women belong in the kitchen? Hot pants and revealing cleavage provoke even the most prudish of men and women who wear them are therefore solely responsible for all consequences? MeToo is the devil’s work and a job for the exorcist to you? If so, you need to be strong now. Because your diagnosis […]
Did you know that Poseidon was quite the playboy? Yes, that’s right, we are talking about the king of the sea from Greek mythology. The Romans also knew him as the water deity Neptune. Actually, the brother of Zeus was married to beautiful Amphitrite, the queen of the seas. But that was apparently not enough […]
How’s your Chinese? Do the characters curl up in your noggin like lettuce? Is their pronunciation as crisp as wilted water chestnuts? Do you go limp like an old lettuce leaf as soon as you brood over your vocabulary book? And do you immediately run tomato red whenever you stammer a few painstakingly rehearsed phrases? […]