网络热词盘点来啦！ 当当当当！

20160603ou 一中两外锵锵三人行 今日话题： Online Buzzwords of 2015 年度网络热词盘点来啦！ An annual report from the Ministry of Education and the National Language Committee unveiled the most popular online buzzwords of 2015 Lincoln: These buzzwords have kind of been thrown around the internet. I don’t know any of them, Yoyo, so you will have to walk us through some of them. What’s the first one? Yoyo: Okay, the first one is ‘important things are to be repeated three times’. Let me give you an example. So, during the Spring Festival holidays in China, there has been a big event where your parents or your friends will give you ‘e-red envelopes’. And when they will announce in the WeChat group, “Important things are to be repeated three times”, I will send out an ‘e-red envelope’. That means, they want you to pay attention to this. They want to attract your attention immediately. Nick: The next one is ‘the world is so big, I want to explore it’. Yoyo: Oh, there has been a background story. This comes from a middle school teacher from central China’s Henan Province. She wrote a ten-character resignation letter in April back in 2015. It caused a buzz on Chinese social media, and then everyone is just forwarding the sentence or saying it to the other person, just say “the world is big, I want to explore it”, and then go on holiday. Lincoln: I’m looking at some of the ones, from, maybe, from overseas. I think some of the ones from overseas are quite interesting as well. There’s the famous one, the famous buzzword, ‘bae’, B-A-E, I can already see Nick frowning. I’ve also got some other ones as well that I think you guys are, are you guys familiar with this? The term, ‘lit’. This is a word that’s used a lot, to be like, “Oh, did you see someone perform at the show?” “Oh yeah I did, it was lit”. Nick: And that means … Yoyo: Was it good? Lincoln: It was good. It was lit. Nick/Yoyo: Okay. Lincoln: One of the interesting things is ‘woke’. Have you guys ever heard this? Nick/Yoyo: Woke? Lincoln: As in, “stay woke”. Nick: As in, “stay awake”? Lincoln: No, as in, “stay enlightened”. Nick: What does that mean? Lincoln: You have to keep your mind, be aware of current events and cultural issues. Neither of you guys is woke. Okay, another example would be like, “Oh dude, you need to watch out for that other guy over there. Stay woke.” Nick: No, no. Lincoln: Nick, you’re not having it? Nick: I’m not having that. Lincoln: Not woke at all. And then another one of the ones that’s really popped off a lot is “savage”, which is when you’ve acted either with no regard for your own feelings or for anyone else’s feelings, you’ve done something like a savage. So something will be like “Oh dude, they made that hamburger really poorly the other day, it had way too much cheese. And then you go like “Oh, savage”. Nick: Okay, this is something else, this is an existing word taking on a new meaning. I think this is the evolution of language, I’m okay with this, I’m not okay with just making up words. Lincoln: Why are you okay with this, when the evolution of language kind of needs us to have new words? Nick: It doesn’t, there are enough words already. Lincoln: No, no, there aren’t enough words, because how else, we invent new things, we have new situations that we’ve never come across, we just have to use the words that we have? Nick: I feel that I have reached this far in my life and I have never encountered a time when I needed to express that something was ‘lit’. Lincoln: If you want to hear what condescension sounds like, it’s the ‘T’ at the end of Nick Lanigan’s “lit”. He said that with this disdain dripping from his mouth. Unbelievable. You know what, we’re all about the same age, but I feel like you guys are, like, fifteen years older than me. Just with this kind of confusion. Yoyo: No, I use the Chinese buzzwords! Important things are to be repeated three times!