How do the cool 13-18 year old Chinese kids say "cool"?
pretzellogic
November 06, 2009, 05:29 PM posted in General Discussionyes, I know cpod is all about giving us realistic dialogue, and I have no reason to doubt that. But in this case, I'd like to know straight from the experts. If there are any Chinese kids in that 13-18 year age group on this site, let me know your thoughts. And if i hear that it's something like "tài hǎo le", i'm going to be really disappointed.
At least in the States, the kids said stuff like "cool" and "tight". My one American based expert in this area moved out of the house awhile ago, so I know longer know what American kids say for "cool".
pretzellogic
December 07, 2009, 01:08 PMI do recall that mild-swearing lesson, and I guess I was hoping for something a bit more, shall we say, edgy. I put in a request for an advanced or upper-intermediate lesson for such a lesson.
grace_counselor
November 07, 2009, 12:30 AMActually "酷" is very popular among yong persons in China. So even you're around thirty, you still use this word.
changye
November 07, 2009, 01:38 AMSurprisingly, “酷” (cool) is listed in 《现代汉语词典》 (中国社会科学院, 2005), a kind of bible of authentic modern Mandarin, but not in its 2002 edition. So, in this sense, “酷” might be already a little out-of-date, hehe. Anyone knows up-to-date Chinese words that means "cool"?
P/S. Don't 醋 (cu4) for 酷 (ku4). "醋" means "vinegar/jealousy"
pretzellogic
November 07, 2009, 03:04 AMthanks everyone. I guess “酷" works, but then I was also thinking that they said something like "fly".
Is that it? Chinese kids just say “酷"? They're not going around saying that new Zhang ZiYi film was "the bomb"?
grace_counselor
November 07, 2009, 05:45 AMYou also can say 酷毙(bi4)了or 帅(shuai4)呆(dai1)了。呵呵
JasonSch
November 07, 2009, 05:47 AMOkay, here's my 2 cents:
酷 is definitely very popular.
There is also:
牛 or, 牛屄. The latter is a bit dirty, but also used quite a bit. 牛 is different than 酷 though in that it usually describes an action or an ability.
棒 could be translated as 'cool' in some circumstances as well. Something like ‘这部电影太棒了' is a lot like 'cool'.
Then there's 屌. This one is also pretty dirty and used almost exclusively by young guys, but seems to be the new 'cool' way to say something is 'rad' or 'badass'.
Hmm...what else is there?
Cool thread btw! ;)
sebire
November 06, 2009, 09:59 PM酷 - ku4. As in nciku - n词酷.
JasonSch
November 07, 2009, 08:18 AM@grace
You're right! 帅 is definitely like 'cool' as well.
@changye
Yeah, I was a little hesitant to post them, but hey, kids these days! Also, these word's vulgar-ness has definitely been worn down a bit with so much use.
You bring up a really good point though about 牛 though. It's usually written '牛B' or 牛逼 to avoid that second character.
Hopefully if I haven't offended anyone! haha. All for the sake of learning, no? :)
pretzellogic
December 07, 2009, 07:06 AMJasonSch, (warning: post of an sensitive nature. reader discretion is advised)
The annoying thing about your awesome post is that it went totally over my head. I only know around 130-150 characters or so, so it's only now that i've figured out what you meant, and that only because I came across another site that used niúbī.
Somehow, it would be nice if we could get more of those words in a cpod dialogue. How am I supposed to use niu2bi1 in a sentence? What am I supposed to listen for when my kids start using it, and I don't want them to, or rather, tell them in which circumstances certain things are ok to say, and others are not? Especially from a website that tells us how it gives us real-world Chinese to learn.
simonpettersson
December 07, 2009, 07:27 AMI would love a lesson on Chinese swear words and such. I don't want to come to China and have to say "什么意思?" when someone lets out a cuss. That can get pretty embarrassing for both me and the cusser in question. Also, some guidance on when it's okay to swear and when it's not. This often differs between cultures. Is it okay to swear when you're at a company party with your boss after you both had a few drinks? Is it okay to swear by the water cooler with your work mates? What about when you're haggling at the market? This sort of stuff would be good to know.
pretzellogic
December 07, 2009, 07:55 AMsimonpettersson, I agree with you 100%. Your reasons are better than mine for wanting the lesson.
waiguoren
December 07, 2009, 11:42 AMThere is an elementary lesson on mild swearing...
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/mild-swearing
(Sorry, I don't know how to do that red underline link thing...)
changye
November 07, 2009, 07:52 AMHi JasonSch
Great job，你真牛！ It's the first time I've ever seen the Chinese characters "bi1" and "diao3", not represented by "xxx", posted here in the Chinesepod forums!! They are very "graphic" characters, aren't they? Please be careful not to place the two characters side by side, hehe.
simonpettersson
November 06, 2009, 06:07 PMDISCLAIMER: I am not a 13-18 year old Chinese kid
Actually, I think there's a loan word. Kù. I'm sure someone here can give you the character.