汉语新词新译系列-J

救人网店 (jiu4 ren2 wang3 dian4) online redeeming service

This term refers to newly established online services designed specifically to dissuade people from conducting illegal pyramid sales. The owner of one such service, who’s based in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, charges 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) for “redeeming” a person from the pyramid sales business.

囧一代 (jiong3 yi2 dai4) orz generation

It is derived from a Japanese emoticon and refers to young adults who face challenges brought on by a tight job market or frustration with finding a spouse. The word orz refers to a person kneeling and bowing in defeat.

近景魔术 (jin4 jing3 mo2 shu4) close-up magic

Also known as table magic, the trick is played amidst audience members or even one-on-one. The magician uses everyday items as props like name cards and coins. Magician Lu Chen became a hit after performing close-up magic on a CCTV show.

僵尸银行 (jiang1 shi1 yin2 hang2) zombie bank

The term refers to a bank that cannot lend money because its liabilities are greater than its assets, but it stays in business thanks to government support.

夹心阶层 (jia1 xin1 jie1 ceng2) sandwich class

It is an informal term referring to lower middle class people who feel “squeezed” in society. They are not that poor to receive government financial support, but they are not able to live the decent life they would like to have.

金融危机宝宝 (jin1 rong2 wei1 ji1 bao3 bao) financial crisis baby

Crisis babies are born amid the wave of massive layoffs triggered by the global financial crisis. To avoid being laid off, female white-collar workers choose to get pregnant as China’s Labor Law forbids enterprises to terminate contracts with female workers while they are pregnant or in the lactation period.

贾姬包 (jia3 ji1 bao1) Jackie O’ Bag

It is a style of Gucci bag made famous in the fashion world by former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was famous for her high-end lifestyle.

肌肉车 (ji1 rou4 che1) gas guzzler

This term refers to high gasoline-consuming and big-sized automobiles, usually driven by high-power engines. The automobiles are generally designed with hard lines, hence the name in Chinese which means “muscular car.”

经济适用男 (jing1 ji4 shi4 yong4 nan2) budget husband

More and more women now tend to seek a “budget husband” instead of wealthy men just as home buyers now look for budget houses rather than villas during the economic crisis. Although not earning a lot, the budget husbands don’t have bad habits such as drinking, smoking or gambling and are family-oriented.

精分 (jing1 fen1) duplicitous self-promoter

It is a Chinese abbreviation for the word schizophrenia. But it is now often used to describe people, particularly some pop stars, who use false IDs to leave flattering comments in their own blog postings.

贱男 (jian4 nan2) a loose man

It refers to promiscuous men, especially those in the entertainment industry, who hop from bed to bed or who never treat love or marriage seriously.

僵尸企业 (jiang1 shi1 qi3 ye4) zombie companies

The term, first used by Business Week magazine in a recent issue, refers to companies that receive government bailout funding and continue to operate even though they are nearly defunct. The debtors lean on support from lenders or the government to stay in business. Zombie companies can drag healthier rivals into insolvency.

茭白 (jiao1 bai2) worried white-collar

The Chinese term, originally the name of the wild rice shoot (a vegetable), is now used to describe a worried white-collar worker plagued by the fear of being laid off amid the global economic recession. The first character of this Chinese term sounds like the word “worried” and the second here stands for “white collar.”

加急时代 (jiā jí shí dài) a hurry-up era

People in large cities always seem on a rush to meet all kinds of deadlines and demands because of market competition and high-paced work environment.

机车 (jī chē) slow, picky, pesky

The term, meaning literally “train engine,” is often used in Taiwan to describe someone who’s either slow, picky or pesky. It may also be used to describe something annoying or vulgar.

交通拥挤费 (jiao1tong1 yong1ji3 fei4) congestion charge

The city is planning to introduce a congestion charging scheme similar to the one imposed in central London to help cut traffic jams during rush hours. If enacted, the scheme will charge drivers when they enter a certain downtown area during a given period of time.

节约型社会 (jie2yue1xing2 she4hui4) conservation-oriented society

Due to urgent short supplies of energy, raw materials and other resources, the Chinese government has been urging the whole nation to go all out in building a more conservation-oriented society in order to pursue sustainable social-economic development.

脐带血 (qi2dai4xue3) umbilical cord blood

Huang xinxia, a 28-year-old woman from Anhui Province, is now waiting to see if the umbilical cord blood from her second boy, who was born in Shanghai a week ago would help save her first son, who suffers from leukemia. Doctors at Shanghai No.1 People’s Hospital collected the umbilical cord blood, and hope there will be a better chance of a match of stem cells between two brothers.

缉毒犬 (ji1du2quan3) sniffer dog, drug detector dog

Local airports have employed some sniffer dogs not only to help detect drugs, but also to uncover any products that could be related t the spreading avian flu virus. It’s reported that the canine squad has been working very effectively.

居家养老 (ju1jia1yang3lao3) home-based care for the aged

To cope with a quickly-aging society and the sharp shortage of facilities for the elderly, Shanghai has been advocating the so-called jujia yanglao, or home-based care for the aged. The city has adopted a number of measures, such as improving the community-based services and introducing schemes of providing cared and emergency aid to senior citizens who are living alone by pairing them with other families.

井喷 (jing3pen1) blowout, cough up

A gas blowout happened in southwestern China’s Chongqing last weekend and forced more than 14,000 people to evacuate from their homes while firemen and specialists tried several times to cap the leaking gas well. The term can also be used to describe someone coughing up information.

紧急避孕药 (jin3ji2 bi4yun4yao4) morning-after pill

It’s as medical method to help prevent unwanted pregnancies following unprotected sex or failed contraception. The Shanghai Family Planning Instruction Institute will cooperate with the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Association to train pharmacists and clerks at 1,000 drugstores on the proper use of the morning-after pill.

掘博 (jue4bo4) Blog digging

Blogs have been becoming an increasingly popular method for people to record their lives and share their experience with others. Many people also like to read others’ blogs. They dig into archives to learn more about the blog owner.

急痞 (ji2pi3) zippies

Zippies are those who are fond of higher living standard, brave to show ambition and grasping every possible opportunity. They are willing to do anything that may give them chance to succeed.

见光死 (jian4guang1si3) killer light

The Chinese phrase means someone dies by being exposed to the light. Now, it is used to describe the unfortunate outcome of the first date between two people who have fallen in love after chatting on the Internet and/or on the phone without ever seeing each other in person. The romantic bubble often bursts when the two meet in real life as delusion is dispelled by reality.

搅局 (jiao3ju2) spoil the party

Action movie star Jackie Chan recently created a disturbance in real life by exchanging insults with the audience when he appeared as a guest singer at Taiwan singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee’s concert in Hong Kong.

阶梯计价 (jie1ti1 ji4jia4) volumetric pricing

Volumetric pricing is a tiered pricing system used in Tokyo and 12 Chinese cities including Nanjing and Shenzhen. It charges heavy users higher fees compared to light users, which encourages conservation.

净足风暴 (jing4zu2 feng1bao4) football purging storm

The term refers to the judicial intervention in the match-fixing scandal centered on Juventus, one of Italy’s football giants. The first half of the Chinese phrase means “make the football clean.”