A Chinese Obscenity

Paper Republic attempts to explain a term in common use in China, which is shockingly obscene and yet a term  -- they often won't even draw the character, because the manner of drawing the character itself is taken as obscene -- of very strong approval.  It is one of those things that is often best explained by example, of which the author provides several useful ones:
A friend had a high-school classmate who spent every physics class staring at the ceiling, either asleep or completely indifferent. No matter how angry the teacher got the classmate never did the least bit of work, and his attention always remained fixed on the ceiling. When the semester was over and the test results came out, the classmate scored nearly 100%. The classmate was niubi.
The explanation is probably good enough to convey the concept, and the concept is not at all obscene.  If you want to understand why the term is, you can follow the link; however, given the sexual nature of the obscenity, I'll trust that you will all be delicate in the comments if you decide to discuss it.

One thing I find amusing is that the Chinese are apparently often too embarrassed by the term to use it in polite company, but they find that they can't do without the concept, so they just pronounce the first part of the word. That part of the word means "cow."  So, someone does something cool and laid back, and you'd say, "He's so cow."

Speaking of Chinese obscenities, apparently the good folks in Taiwan weren't too happy about today's op-ed in the New York Times, "To Save Our Economy, Ditch Taiwan."  The Taiwanese have their own special way of expressing themselves on these points.

on

5 comments:

  1. E Hines8:01 AM

    As one of the commenters in your OP points out, or hints at in another comment, part of the usage of slang is in a term's irony. One slang from my earlier days was "He's so bad," meaning "He's so good/cool." And the use of obscenity in the phrasing (f* awesome, for instance) is both for an emphasis that's not possible without the harsh term and to isolate the cool users from the pedestrian mainstream.

    Shortened slang also is common in New York (by my Texan stereotype; and no, I can't think of an example off the top of my head), but "He's so cow" loses its meaning, and so its impact, without a context and an understanding of the complete idiom--which is part of the point of that usage.

    Which shows that in many foundational respects, all of us think alike, regardless of the terms we use to express our thoughts.

    Eric Hines

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  2. E Hines8:06 AM

    As to cutting and running on our responsibilities vis-a-vis our allies--the Republic of China in this case--that's what this administration does. And it's not alone in that regard; past administrations have done the same.

    Abandoning the RoC to mainland slavery is simply cowardice. But then, look at this, and earlier, administration's handling of a development of a defensive strategy (http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/11/10/battle-plans-tempt-chill-in-u-s-china-relations/?mod=google_news_blog): we won't follow through because defending ourselves against a thug might angrify the thug?

    Eric Hines

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  3. BillT4:52 PM

    I guess that explains why new recruits in the PLA aren't referred to as "newbies"...

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  4. MikeD10:14 AM

    I kept wanting to make a "nubile" joke, but nothing workable came to mind.

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  5. Texan9911:22 AM

    "Bada$$ MF," I guess, and that even shows an English version of the SFW version of a rude expression. This led me to websites trying to put together the best BAMF characters of recent years. I nominate Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday: "You're a daisy if you do." But lots of people liked Omar Little from "The Wire," and I agree.

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