Happy New Year!

In honor of a new year, let's go over some Chinese slang.....

While I think it's great more and more Westerners are wanting to learn Chinese, many, in fact most, still don't have a good grasp on how to use Chinese slang.... in order to help remedy this, let's go over some basic terms:

1. 還好。。。This term, (pronounced hai-hao) literally translates to "it's good", but you need to realize that it has sarcastic overtones built-in by default... when you say "it's good" in English normally, you mean "it's good", but it if you say "it''s GOOOOOOD" sarcastically, you mean it's NOT so good... this phrase actually means something isn't so good... and unlike English phrases, it's impossible to say this expression without sarcasm.

So the next time you're at MO's Burger and eating Chilli burger that only tastes so-so, when your friend asks you "How's the burger?" you can reply "Hai-hao"

2. 二百五 。。。This phrase, pronounced (er-bai-wu) literally translates to two-hundred-fifty... but means means idiot/crazy person/jerk and is usually used on guys that act dumb or ridiculously... so the next time your friend gets into a fight with the bouncer at Room 18 (next to Taipei 101), you can ask him "你是二百五啊“ （ni shi er bai wu a - Are you crazy??)

3. 大男人 。。。 This phrase, pronounced (da-nan-ren) literally translates to a large man; but means someone (usually a man) that is extremely pompous or full of himself... once I was in Tokyo, I saw one guy literally beat another guy onto the ground because the he thought his shoe was stepped on... this is guy was a 大男人。。。