汉语新词新译系列-K

开口费 (kai1 kou3 fei4)
report money

Opposite to hush money collected by unethical journalists, report money refers to the page fees collected by magazines from article writers before publication. Some postgraduates, PhD students and college professors chose to pay the money so that they can get enough published articles to graduate or get promotion.

卡哇伊 (ka3 wa1 yi1)
cute, lovely

Young Netizens and faddish people tend to use the expression, a transliteration from the Japanese word kawaii, to describe anything that is lovely, agreeable or acceptable.

可爱实力 (ke3 ai4 shi2 li4)
kawaii power

Japan recently appointed three young women as cultural envoys to boost its "soft power". Japan's Foreign Ministry officials said the country wanted people abroad to feel close to the envoys. The term is a variation of the "smart power" advocated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

口红效应 (kou3 hong4 xiao1 ying1 )
Lipstick effects

The term describes the tendency for consumers to purchase small, comforting items such as lipstick rather than large luxury items amid economic downturns. For example, Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's leading cinema chain, benefited from lipstick effect by taking more than 495 million yuan (US$72.4 million) in box office receipts last year, a 29-percent increase from 2007. The nation's movie theaters also took in 4.2 billion yuan in 2008, an increase of 888 million yuan from 2007.

可爱的上海人(ke3'ai4de1 shang4hai3ren2)
amiable Shanghainese

The term "lovable Shanghainese" derives from a city government campaign urging locals to be friendly and helpful to out-of-towners and to behave in a civilized way.

啃老族 (ken3lao3zu2)
NEET

It stands for Not in Employment, Education or Training. It refers to some young people who do not work but live off their parents.

空军 (kong1jun1)
no-house class, no-housers

This term is used in online chat rooms and BBS by urban residents, especially those youngsters who own no house. The Chinese term literally means air force in English.

卡奴 (ka3nu2)
card slave

Along with the popular use of credit cards in some large cities in China, some card users, especially youngsters with large shopping addictions and small salaries, gradually become credit card slaves, because they borrow form one credit card to pay off debts on another credit card. Due to their meager salaries, they always live on the edge of bankruptcy.

口水歌 (kou3shui3ge1)
resung song

Some mediocre singers have to sing the hit songs of pop stars or well-known folk songs to attract an audience and build their way to stardom. Such resung songs are also popular with karaoke goers as they are usually within ordinary people's singing capability.

卡娃 (ka3wa4)
card kid

It's a new term referring to teenagers who disseminate all kinds of advertising cards, such as discounted air tickets, to pedestrians or bicyclists in streets or other public places. They have become a public nuisance as they literally harass people while distributing the cards. Last year, Shanghai street cleaners collected 24 tons of such cards.

苦肉计(ku3rou4ji4)
play pain card, no-pain-no-gain scheme, smoke screen

It was originally a Chinese military strategy used to put a general in the enemy's confidence by beating him up in public to show he had been purged. These days, people mean it to be a scheme to win eventual success by undergoing hardships or widespread reforms first.

口水战(kou3shui3zhan4)
saliva war

People these days refer to the endless rounds of published criticism and counterattacks between two persons or groups as a saliva war.

本本族 (ben3ben3zu2)
carless drivers

This term refers to those who have driving licenses but seldom have opportunities to practise their skills because they don't have their own cars. They are also called "road killer" as their lack of experience can easily cause traffic accidents.

空心汤团 (kongxin tangtuan)
empty promise

There is a typical Shanghai snack called "tangtuan" or glutinous rice flour dumplings with fillings served in soup. In case you are given an empty promise, the Shanghainese tend to say that you are served with "kongxin tangtuan" or dumplings without fillings.

宽粉 (kuan1fen3)
super fans

This Chinese term means literally "thick glass noodle." Since glass noodle, which sounds like the English word "fans" in Chinese, has been widely used as a moniker of fans, the "thick" ones naturally become "super" fans.

开光 (kaiguang)
consecrate, deify, bless

Usually, newly-built temples and Buddha statues need to be consecrated before they are put into service. In order to seek good luck, nowadays people request monks to help consecrate or bless a great variety of personal articles, ranging from talismans and ornaments to cell-phone numbers.

酷抠族(ku4kou1zu3)
cool miser

It is reported that some rich people in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, have followed a fad of living a simple and frugal life, although they can afford a more costly lifestyle, to save money and other resources.

快闪暴走族，聪明行动族 (kuai4shan3 bao4zuo3zu2, cong1ming2 xing2dong4zu2)
smart mob

This term is a translation of the English term "smart mob." According to Howard Rheingold, author of the book "Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution," the people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never before possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities. The evolving communication technologies will greatly change the way that people organize and share information.

款爷 (kuan3ye2)
moneybags, fat cat

This term consists of two Chinese characters, namely, "money" and "big shot." So its meaning is self-evident. But it's a slangy term and used often in the northern part of the country.

靠谱 (kao4pu3)
proper; relevant

The word is frequently used these days to mean an idea, act, plan or policy that is considered acceptable by the public or tradition.