10 hottest Chinese buzzwords in 2016

In the network era, network buzzwords can be the most representative language. As soon as one buzzword appears, it will soon spread crazily on different social networks. Below is the list of the top 10 Chinese buzzwords of the year 2016. Come and check if you know any of them.

1. 蓝瘦香菇 Lán shòu xiānggū

"蓝瘦香菇" literally means "blue thin mushroom". However it has nothing to do with mushroom. Actually it is used to express "难受，想哭" meaning "feel bad, want to cry". People crates this buzzword just because they have similar pronunciation in a local dialect from Nanning, Southern China. This buzzword comes from a video in which a young man expresses his sad feelings of a bad date. He repeatedly murmured how bad he feels with this phrase and then inspires Chinese netizens to create this buzzword.

2. 小目标 Xiǎo mùbiāo

"小目标" means a "A small goal". It is a common phrase in Chinese language, but it soon becomes a hot internet buzzword after China's richest man Wang Jianlin, the founder of Dalian Wanda Group, said "You shouldn't be that ambitious. Set a small goal first, like earning 100 million yuan ($15m)."

3. 老司机 Lǎo sījī

"老司机" originally means the driver who have rich driving experience. It becomes famous with a song named "老司机，带带我" meaning "Give me a ride, skilled driver". Now it is used to refer to the people who are experienced and have various resources in certain fields.

4. 一言不合就…… Yì yán bùhé jiù……

"一言不合就……" means "Whenever you disagree with each other…". It is a popular internet term meaning something unexpectedly happens. For example, "Whenever you disagree with each other, you solve it by drag racing.", "Whenever you disagree with each other, you take selfies.".

5. 洪荒之力 Hónghuāng zhī lì

"洪荒之力" means "prehistorical powers". It originally comes from a Chinese hit TV series Hua Qian Gu. This internet meme became very popular after Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui responded exaggeratedly to her best performance of women's 100-meter backstroke semi-final in Rio 2016. " I've been using prehistorical powers." she said when being interviewed by a CCTV reporter.

6. 撩妹 Liāo mèi

"撩妹" means "hit on sb" or "flirt with sb". It became popular in China with the hit Korean drama Descendants of the Sun in which Song Joong-ki makes use of various ways to pick up Song Hye-kyo.

7. 宝宝 Bǎobǎo

"宝宝" means "Baby". "吓死宝宝了" refers to "Baby is freaked out!". Chinese girls often use this phrase to play cute. Later "宝宝" is used to adjust atmosphere in any context.

8. 没想到你是这样的 Méi xiǎngdào nǐ shì zhèyàng de……

"没想到你是这样的" means "It didn't occur to me that you are such a…". It is used to express exclamation on many unexpected things that happen today.

9. 狗带 Gǒu dài

"狗带" is homophonic with "go die". It comes from an English Rap performed by Huang Zitao in a concert. In WeChat, micro blog and other Internet social networking platforms, people often use it to express discontent or frustration.

10. 友谊的小船  Yǒuyì de xiǎochuán

This meme comes from a cartoon works "friend ship sinks" by Nan Dongni. Two cute penguins sit on a small boat, a disagreeable conversation can leads to "the friend ship sink". Netizens then create many similar sentences like "The ship of friendship sinks easily, so does the ship of love." and "The ship of friendship sinks easily, while the salary runs out quickly."

Source: chinawhisper