Sept. 06 白菜价- low price

Date:2009-09-05

白菜价 (bai2 cai4 jia4)
low price
The Chinese term literally means “cabbage price.” Cabbage is one of the cheapest vegetables in China so “cabbage price” means a very low price.

杠杆女 (gang4 gan3 nv3)
lever women
The term refers to wives who play their advantages to the full to help their husbands succeed in careers. Such women are compared to levers to lift their husbands.

明星脸 (ming2 xing1 lian3)
celebrity copycat
The term, “star face” by its literal meaning in Chinese, refers to those people who look like some celebrities. The newly screened movie “Tracing Shadow” features a flock of look-alikes resembling Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Andy Lau and other movie stars.

手帕交 (shou3 pa4 jiao1)
close female friends
When two women have been such good friends that they have no secrets to hold back from each other, they belong to this category. The expression literally means “handkerchief friendship” as in ancient China a handkerchief is the symbol of sworn sisters.

蛋腚 (dan4 ding4)
sober, composed
The term, “butt of an egg” in its literal sense, is pronounced the same as the Chinese word for calm and composed — 淡定 — and has replaced the correct writing of the Chinese word “calm” on the Internet. “Dàn dìng” became a Chinese buzzword in August 2008 when it was used in Yunnan dialect in the popular comedy movie “Almost Perfect.”

温和腐败 (wen1 he2 fu3 bai4)
mild corruption
It refers to a government official who says his corruption is mild because he takes bribes only after he does something for the briber. In his view, there’s worse corruption when an official takes bribes and yet refuses to return the favor.

太妹 (tai4 mei4)
offbeat girls
The expression is believed to have originated in Taiwan where people mean it to be females in their late teens and early 20s who dawdle around all day and choose to be good for nothing. These girls are the female version of 古惑仔(gu3 huo4 zai3).

攒机 (cuan2 ji1)
DIY computer
It's a kind of computer DIY assembled for personal use, but when it crosses the line to generate illegal profits, lawsuits will ensue over intellectual property rights, as proved in recent years.

花心(hua1 xin1)
unfaithful
The expression is often applied to men who stray away from a faithful relationship with their spouses. It literally means a "flowery heart," as flower is often associated with love or romance in Chinese.