汉语新词新译系列-T

跳票 (tiao4piao4) miss schedule, delay

The expression originates from the banking service where a check is returned or sent back as in a case of bouncing. Now this term is often used to mean some new products that fail to appear on the market as scheduled. 

托儿所 (tuo1er2suo3) shill company

The Chinese term originally means a nursery school for kids. But, the first two characters in this term can also mean a shill. As a result, it is now often used to mean a shill company which employs people to pose as satisfied customers to dupe others.

淘杀 (tao2sha1) search and haggle, tough elimination

The term means either the act of looking for favorite commodities and then haggling for a bargain during the sale seasons like Christmas and Spring Festival, or the elimination of a large number of contestants.

踢馆 (ti1guan3) challenge

Originating in Cantonese, the term, in old times, referred to those thugs who went to martial-arts clubs to pick fights with the owners or trainers there to show that they are better. Now it is often used to mean to challenge other people.

天使投资人 (tian1shi3tou4zi1ren4) angel investor

An affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angels have begun forming angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool investment capital.

透视装 (tou4shi4zhuang1) see-through dress

A piece of see-through clothing, barely suitable for public view.

破净 (po4jin4) below net asset value

Stocks that have their closing price fall below their net asset value amid the current sliding stock market.

吐槽 (tu4cao2) debunk, gibe

The expression means to debunk or show up the false nature or ridiculousness of someone’s remarks, especially in front of others. The phrase is believed to originate from the Japanese term “tsukkom.”

通心粉 (tong1xin1fen3) macaroni people

The name of pasta in any of various hollow shapes is now used to describe people who are impressive in appearance but disappointing in substance. It’s similar to the English saying “Many a fine dish has nothing on it” or the Chinese idiom “embroidered pillow,” which boasts a beautiful cover, but with only worthless dried straw stuffed inside.

贴身媒体 (tie1shen1mei2ti3) personal media

It refers to mobile phones that carry news in the form of broadcasting short messages (SMS) or multimedia messaging service (MMS).

团子 (tuan2 zi) panda

The Chinese term is one of the nicknames for panda and it literally means dumplings. People use this to describe the round-shaped, fatty pandas. Other popular nicknames include gun gun (滚滚), which means rolling in Chinese, also used to describe roly-poly pandas.

贴秋膘 (tie1 qiu1 biao1) flesh out in autumn

Traditionally, autumn is a harvest season and thought of as a season of plenty. Also, the cool temperature brings back the appetite of many people who lost weight in the long, sweltering and often sleep-depriving summer. Therefore, autumn is also a good season for people to recover and store up much needed energy.

土食族 (tu3 shi2 zu2) locavore

A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better.

太空货币 (tai4 kong1 huo4 bi4) QUID

The term stands for “Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination,” a prototype for a possible future type of currency for use by space tourists. This is based on the assumption that the normal currency of notes and coins will not be able to be used by space travelers during their expeditions.

淘客 (tao2 ke4) online shopper

The term refers to those who search online for goods they like to purchase via a relatively safe third-party transaction platform. The phrase took off when taobao.com, a local C2C online shopping Website, became more and more popular.

淘一代 (tao2 yi2 dai4) online shoppers

This term refers to the ever-growing young population who are getting used to shopping online. Shanghai, in particular, has the biggest number of online shoppers in China.

天鹅 (tian1 e2) SWANS

This term stands for “Strong Women Achievers, No Spouse.” It was first used to describe a growing group of high-achieving single women who are often revered for their style and beauty, but sometimes feared for their strength.

通勤装 (tong1 qin2 zhuang1) office outfit

It refers to clothing that is fit for office hours and formal business gatherings.

特保案 (te4 bao3 an4) special protection case

The decision by the United States government to impose tariffs on the import of tires from China is the latest example of seeking special protection of domestic enterprises from dumping, but China accuses the Obama administration of protectionism and has appealed the case to the WTO.

拖尾巴 (tuo1 wei3 ba1) spill-back

It refers to the partial or full blockage of a road crossing by cars that don’t make it through the traffic lights before they turn red. Police in Shanghai, where traffic jams are common, have started to prevent or solve such congestion.

他衰退 (ta1 shuai1 tui4) male recession

Because many men have lost their jobs or found their salaries slashed during the current global economic recession, this financial downturn has been dubbed humorously as the “male recession.”

跳价 (tiao4 jia4) price hike

At first glance, the Chinese term is a bit ambiguous as it could suggest either a price hike or a price drop. But actually it means only a price hike.

吐血推荐 (tu4 xue3 tui1 jian4) blood-spitting recommendation

This phrase vividly tells how eagerly and ardently someone is recommending a subject. It describes a person who is recommending it so strongly that the activity of speaking has hurt his/her internal organs and the blood starts to come out as he/she talks about it.

天花板官员 (tian1 hua1 ban3 guan1 yuan2) ceiling-stuck officials

The phrase refers to officials who see little hope of further promotion because they are restricted by their old age. The Chinese term 天花板 meaning ceiling is compared to the restriction that is hard to break through. The officials are said to be more likely to become corrupt because they easily lose ambition and self-discipline.  

推板 (tei1 bei2) low quality, substandard, indecent, short (of)

Most people believe this term originates from the nomenclature of boat transport still thriving in the Yangtze River Delta area. Others, however, argue that it derives from the English phrase “too bad” as the pronunciations are similar and the meanings related.

The colloquial term frequently describes something not good or of substandard quality, or people who are indecent or dishonest.

Also, it can be used to mean “short or short of.”For instance, when someone says “this cable 推板 (tei bei) 5 centimeters,” he means the cable is 5 centimeters too short.

When someone decides to buy a product in a store and tells his friend that he 推板 (tei bei) 50 yuan, he means that he is 50 yuan short.

替餐 (ti4 can1) meal replacement

Diet products in the form of powder, bars and shakes believed to contain high-quality protein, carbohydrates and nutrients that can replace regular meals.

特别没种部队 (te4 bie2 mei2 zhong3 bu4 dui4) Sorry We Aren’t Trained – SWAT

The acronym typically refers to “Special Weapons and Tactics” teams, highly trained military and police experts used for dangerous emergencies. It now refers to the Philippines police in Manila who demonstrated incompetence and lack of training in the bus hostage crisis involving Hong Kong tourists on August 23.

团主 (tuan2 zhu3) group purchase foreman

While there is a group purchase, there is the person who initiates, organizes and manages the process on behalf of the group.

团饭 (tuan2 fan4) group purchase fan

Young urbanites who are fond of using the group purchase method to benefit from heavily discounted prices.

体感游戏 (ti3 gan3 you2 xi4) somatosensory games

A new type of computer game that does away with traditional key strokes. Instead, body movements recognized by the device actually control the game moves. Typical games of this kind are tennis on Wii, bowling on iPhones and Motion Fighter on PlayStation Move.