October 30

内紧外松 (nei4jin3wai4song1)

floating duck tactic

This translation is based on the English term of “floating duck syndrome,” which describes a situation where a duck paddles frantically underneath in order to keep its body calmly floating on the water. In China, however, people don’t see it as a syndrome, but a tactic to hide one’s efforts in speeding up his work or in controlling damages underneath a calm and relaxed appearance.

?一招鲜 (yi4zhao1xian1)

trump card

This Chinese term refers to any unique skills, products or ways of doing thing that can bring you success wherever you go.

写真集 (xie3zhen1ji2)

photo album

It literally means a collection of portraits, but in daily talk it often refers to the photo albums of popstars or other celebrities. The trend is they are showing more and more flesh in such albums.

摇新族 (yao2xin1zu2)

IPO chaser

Profit-minded stock investors who chase only lucrative initial public offering while shunning listed shares offerings. This is a special condition in China because share prices always rise on the debut trading day.

熟女文学 (shu2nv3wen2xue2)

chick lit

It is the abbreviation of “chick literature.” Chick lit is a type of novels that are written by young women and for young women readers. Heroines in these stories are spike-heeled, single and professional women, who search for their positions in big cities, just like those in “Sex and the City.”

贴牌 (tie1pai2)

original equipment manufacturer (OEM)

This term means a manufacturer that makes products for its clients with its clients’ brands. Many Chinese companies grow by working as OEMs for overseas companies. In the latest example, Japanese electronic maker Sanyo Electric Co has agreed to let Haier Group, the Chinese mainland’s biggest home appliance maker, become its only original equipment manufacturer of refrigerators.

闪约 (shan3yue1)

flash appointment

It refers to a blitz kind of meetings between single men and women. Arranged by a go-between agency, a man would talk to a girl he never met before for only 20 minutes, and then he mush dash to the next appointment and talk to another girl for no more than 20 minutes. He can meet several girls in such a flash way to find his best love. Wow. You try.

搓衣板 (cuo1yi1ban3)

thin as a lath

The Chinese term literally means a washing board with wavy grooves. Now it is used jokingly or derogatorily to mean a person, especially a female model, who is as thin as a lath, since their chest case looks very much like a washing board.

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