The verbatim translation is "porridge made of soaked rice" and refers to a favorite breakfast of Shanghai locals.

They usually recook leftover rice from the previous day by adding water, then boiling it to get the desired consistency.

Because of the prolonged bubbling sound of the boiling rice water, people adapted the term to describe anyone who is garrulous, talkative or voluble.

Used figuratively, it has a slightly derogatory connotation as 饭 (rice), the first character in it, pronounces similarly to the Chinese character 烦, or "weary." So, next time someone keeps nagging you and babbles on and on, you may call him 饭泡粥.

瘪三 (bie1 sei1) Bum, beggar

The term is believed to derive from another Pidgin English expression widely used in Shanghai's semi-colonial era more than 60 years ago. It came from sayings such as "beg sir," "beg say" or "empty cent" uttered by beggars or tramps wandering the city.

It was used to describe those who relied on begging, stealing, cheating and swindling to survive.

Today, the term applies to people deemed wretched, despicable, dislikable or shameful, whether they're rich or poor.

It may also be used as a pet name between closely related people in an informal and lighthearted way.

A related term of 瘪三 (bie sei) in the dialect is 洋装瘪三 (yang zang bie sei) or a smartly dressed bum, implying a poor person trying to look rich.

肮三 (ang1 sei1) Tricky, thorny, disappointing, disgraceful, shoddy

The first character means literally "dirty" or "filthy," and the second means "three." In Shanghai parlance, the number three often implies a very low level or poor quality.

So, by derivation, the term describes something of low quality or extremely disappointing.

It also suggests something tricky or thorny or someone who's stingy, disgraceful or acting in an underhanded way.

People usually list two English expressions as the origin of this Shanghai colloquial term. One is "out side," the other is "on sale." Both sound onomatopoeically genuine.

The first term "out side" comes from ball games such as tennis when a referee calls an off-side ball no score.

"On sale" brings with it the connotation of something cheap or of lower and substandard quality.

More often used as an adjective, the noun is 肮三货 (ang sei hu), meaning anything or anyone that can be called 肮三 (ang sei).

节奴 (jie2 nu2)
festival slave
The term refers to those people overwhelmed by the pressure of socializing and giving away gifts during major Chinese traditional festivals, such as Lunar New Year. Some people may end up spending several months' salary during a festival break.

试消费 (shi4 xiao1 fei4)
trial consumption
The practice of trial consumption originated from Websites offering shopping tips. The trials are mostly initiated by catering, tourism or hotel services which offer a group of Web users free trials as a promotion campaign via word of mouth. It provides a reasonable alternative for consumers to avoid blind purchasing.

嫁碗族 (jia4 wan3 zu2)
bowl chasers
"Iron bowl" in Chinese is often used as a metaphor for stable jobs with little risk of the incumbent being sacked. The term "bowl chaser" refers to women eager to marry "Iron bowl holders" for the sake of a stable marriage and relatively high social status.

毕加索 (bi4 jia1 suo3)
stay-at-home men
The term literally refers to art virtuoso Picasso in Chinese and is pronounced similar to "close (闭) and (加) locked (锁)" in Chinese. It is another joking term for young men staying at home to pursue obsessive interests, particularly Japanese video games, comic books and animation movies. They were previously called otaku-boys.

临时店 (lin2 shi2 dian4)
pop-up store
For most retail stores, staying in business for only a few days would be considered a major flop. But a growing number of merchants are opening shops and shutting them soon after -- on purpose. Operating these quickie retail outlets -- known as pop-up stores -- is the latest trend in retailing. It lets merchants move quickly, opening shops to test a new product or market and closing them without much fuss.

黄金降落伞 (huang2 jin1 jiang4 luo4 san3)
golden parachute
A job contract which stipulates that in the event of a takeover by another company, a worker, usually a senior executive, may resign without loss of salary and various perquisites until his contract ends.

紧身牛仔裤 (jin3 shen1 niu2 zai3 ku4)
jeggings
Jeggings are half jeans and half leggings. The fabric is stretchy like leggings but the look is typically an indigo jeans look. The look has been fondly embraced by the likes of Beyonce, Mischa Barton and Pixie Geldof.

毛脚女婿 (mao2 je1 nv3 xu4)
son-in-law to-be
The term means literally "hairy-feet son-in-law" in the Shanghai dialect. When a young woman brings her fiance to meet her parents for the first time, the young man is upgraded from a "boyfriend" to a "hairy-feet son-in-law."
Some people say the "hairy feet" derives from an ancient story about a sick young woman and a spellbinding frog with hairy feet. But in modern usage, "hairy feet" is believed to come from the Shanghai vernacular "毛手毛脚," or being "clumsy, reckless or careless." As a callow newcomer in the family, the young man, eager to make a good impression on his future family, tends to behave in a clumsy and awkward way.
Typically, a "hairy-feet son-in-law" never forgets to bring favorite presents to his future in-laws on each visit, volunteer to do house chores at the new home, and do everything he can to please the family.

发嗲 (fa1 dia3)
act coquettishly, play the woman, act like a spoiled child
This is another signature term of the Shanghai dialect. It is believed to derive from the English word "dear" and today is often used for women or children who speak or act in an overly gentle or endearing way to charm or emotionally trap others.
When it is used in a negative sense, it usually describes a woman who exploits her feminine wiles to lure a desired sex partner. But it may also be used to portray those acting in a pretentious manner. For instance, when one tells a friend that he is going to pay for their dinner next day to demonstrate his generosity, the friend retorts: "Don't 发嗲 (fa dia), I have already picked up the bills for our three previous dinners together."

裸扫 (luo3 sao3)
naked body scan
The phrase refers to high-tech body scanners at airport security check points that see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives. The scanners are triggering fears over passengers’ privacy rights being infringed. Yet amid protests against the indignity a “naked” body scan brings to people, the intrusive machine has been deployed at airports in the United States.

不胜韩魔咒 (bu4 sheng4 han2 mo2 zhou4)
no-win jinx against South Korea
After a 32-year losing streak against South Korea's men's soccer team, China's national team was said to have been cursed by Koreaphobia. The phrase became a hot topic again among disaffected Chinese football fans after the national squad smashed the jinx on February 10 with a 3-0 win against South Korea.

居里夫人 (ju1 li3 fu1 ren2)
Madame Curie
The phrase does not mean Marie Curie, the Polish female scientist. The Chinese phrase literally means a woman staying at home. It is a fresh way to say "Otaku girls" who stay in their residence and pursue obsessive interests, particularly Japanese video games, comic books and animation movies.

妈妈评审团 (ma1 ma1 ping2 shen3 tuan2)
manpower porn filter
The phrase refers to a group of citizens, most of them mothers of teenagers, who are hired by local governments and Internet watchdogs to browse the Internet and hunt for pornographic content. The government prefers mothers because they are the most concerned about the harm porn could do to their children.

恐归族 (kong3 gui1 zu2)
home-anxious clan
It refers to young Chinese people who work in a large city far away from their hometown and dread returning home during the Spring Festival. The reason is they are not so well-established in career or life and are anxious about what to take home to please their parents or relatives.

素人 (su4 ren2)
sirouto/layman/bungler
The Chinese expression comes from the Japanese and is mainly used to refer to those people who are inexperienced at doing a certain thing.

围脖 (wei2 bo2)
Twitter
Netizens have always been inventive in applying everyday names to technology by drawing on the similarity of their pronunciations, such as 阿姨 for Internet Explorer, and 烘焙鸡 for home page. The Chinese for Twitter, 微博, a form of cell phone-supported blog, is similar to 围脖, or muffler, in pronunciation.  
 
虚客 (xu1 ke4)
purposeless shopper
These shoppers who don't need, or can't afford, luxurious products usually indulge vicariously in the consumer lifestyle by window shopping rather than actual buying. They stroll around brand stores, real estate agencies or car markets to learn the latest price and quality of goods for a small sense of satisfaction.

裸婚 (luo3 hun1)
certificate-only marriage
A recent trend has developed among young couples to forsake the wedding ring, wedding party, wedding gift, new apartment and whatever else is traditionally considered a must-have for newly weds to get nothing but a marriage certificate to tie the knot.

爪机党 (zhua3 ji1 dang3)
cell phone freaks
The expression refers to young people who don't let their cell phones out of their hands, all the time taking calls, shooting pictures, reading and texting short messages or playing games. 爪, which means a paw, is a slang term for hand, or 手.

森女 (sen1 nv3)
mori girl
The expression refers to women in their 20s who pursue a simple and natural lifestyle. First popular in Japan, it literally means girls living in wild forests. The word soon gained popularity among Netizens and developed wider use.

甲流聚会 (jia3 liu2 ju4 hui4)
swine flu party
With the swine flu epidemic spreading, some people have held gatherings to try to catch a mild version of the virus to create antibodies against more serious forms.

万人迷 (wan4 ren2 mi2)
princess/prince charming
Chinese people use the expression for a woman or man they dream of having as a future spouse.

被高速 (bei4 gao1 su4)
involuntary high-speed train passenger
The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway has recently been put into operation and several slower trains along the route have been cancelled. Passengers who are forced to take the costlier new trains describe themselves as "being forced to ride highspeed trains."

茶几 (cha2 ji1)
disaster
The Chinese word, literally meaning "a tea table," is the upgraded version of the Chinese buzzword "tragedy." It is said that life is like a tea table — full of tea sets (杯具, a homophone for tragedy) and with dinnerware (餐具, a homophone for disaster) all over it.

碰出火花 (peng 4 chu1 huo3 hua1)
chemistry
When a man and woman discover the spinetingling feeling of attraction at the same time, they are said to have tapped the romantic combination of chemistry. The Chinese literally means to "strike sparkles" of love.

阿飘 (a1 piao1)
ghost
The word, literally meaning "float" in Chinese, is a "nickname" for ghosts or phantoms because they are always described to be floating in air and drifting from place to place.

罗莉 (luo2 li4)
Loli
Loli is short for Lolita, the heroine of the 1955 bestseller novel “Lolita” by Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov. Now, it usually refers to a sexually precocious young girl. It’s also an Internet slang for a little girl (4-12), especially in a sexual context.

古董衫 (gu3 dong3 shan1)
vintage clothes
The term refers to new or second-hand garments that originate from a previous era. The word vintage here is an elegant-sounding euphemism for old. It literally means an antique dress.

新娘哥斯拉 (xin1 niang2 ge1 si1 la1)
bridezilla
The term, a portmanteau of bride and Godzilla, a fictional Japanese giant monster, refers to a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride who leaves aggravated family, friends and bridal vendors in her wake.

梦中情人 (meng4 zhong1 qing2 ren2)
dream sweet-heart/love
When a public figure evokes sexual appeal, he or she is regarded as a public sweet-heart in dreams.