The year of 2019 is coming to an end. At this moment of ringing out the old year and ushering in the new, let’s take a look at those online catchphrases that are popular in 2019.
“All roads lead to Rome, but safety comes first.” This catchphrase is part of the “The Wandering Earth” script and gained popularity as the Chinese sci-fi movie shot to fame. Traffic officers have since adopted it as a slogan to promote traffic safety. Internet users, however, have created their own parodies. For example, “All roads lead to health, but sleep comes first.”
“Green-eyed monster”. If taken quite literally, the sentence means a lemon that turned into a monster. But it’s an expression for being jealous. The phrase, however, has evolved into a self-mockery expression, to voice one’s envy at other people’s wisdom, wealth or love relationship. Example: “The love between Gina and Lang Lang has transformed me into a green-eyed monster.”
“Feel so high”. The phrase went viral after an eponymous song became an unexpected hit. With its hilarious melody and lyrics conveying excitement and happiness, the song gave comedy vloggers something to chew on. For example, “I feel so high as if my life has reached its peak.”
“This guy is a beast!” It refers to someone who doesn’t follow the rules but always surprisingly succeeds. Example, “This guy’s a beast! He won another prize.”
“Yunv wugua”. The playful phrase is homophonic to yu ni wu guan, or “it’s none of your business” in Mandarin. People prefer to use it as a funny substitute to express their discontent with someone poking his nose into others' business. For instance, “-Why are you still single? -It’s none of your business.”
“Hardcore”. This word originally refers to a powerful, rhythmic style of rap music. Now it has been extended to "core part, core member" which means powerful, doughty or domineering. For example, a hardcore technology means a key technology, a hardcore person means a tough guy.
"996" refers to a work schedule commonly observed in a number of Chinese internet companies. It derives its name from the requirement that employees work from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day, six days a week. Example, “You might say goodbye to your life if you work through the 996 work schedule.”