Tag: Vocabulary

玻璃雨(bō li yǚ) shards of falling glass The term literally means rainfall of glass sheets. Several accidents in which glass

不眠精英 （bù mián jīng yīng）
sleepless elite
This refers to a small number of people who can function well on little sleep. Universtiy of California researchers recently found that around 1 percent of the population are naturally “short sleepers” who can happily and healthily get by on four or five hours of a shut-eye a night, without needing naps or caffeine.

走绳(zǒu shéng)
Slacklining
Slacklining involves balancing and walking on a piece of bouncy nylon rope which is suspended above the ground, trees or other upright structures.

巨型光棍节(jù xíng guāng gùn jié) Super Singles Day November 11 has been designated as Singles Day by Chinese youths in

吝享族(lìn xiǎng zú)
Stingy super-spender
These are Chinese young people in urban areas who go to great lengths to make the most of their meager income and live a life they consider comfortable enough.

庞氏骗局(páng shì piàn jú)
Ponzi schemeA Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors.

公铁行(gōng tiě xíng)
BMWThe Chinese is a back translation from the English BMW, which stands for bus, metro and walk. BMW has become a major commuting mode for more people in large Chinese cities such as Shanghai. It was coined by Chinese netizens inspired by the namesake luxury car brand partly as a way to promote an environmental-friendly lifestyle.

孕傻(yùn shǎ)pregnancy stupidityIt is believed that women during pregnancy will suffer deterioration of cognition capability and memory because of hormone changes. However, it does return after birth.

隐性涨价(yǐn xìng zhǎng jià)hidden price hikeMany producers of daily necessities have shrunk the contents of their products while keeping the same retail prices. The price hike is virtually hidden to casual shoppers.

微博控(wēi bó kòng)twuiltBorrowed from the English buzzword, a portmanteau of twitter and guilt, describing the guilty feeling you have when you haven’t posted a twitter comment online recently.