Evolution of Cyber buzzword (per 3 weeks by Andy)

Evolution of Cyber buzzword

中國網絡流行語的演變

Last time, I talked about Chinglish and cyber buzzword. It is a interesting phenomena, but do you know that it is not the case in early years? The Chinese cyber buzzword in early years is actually quite different.

上一次，我在部落格裡說過關於中式英語與網絡流行語的事情。這是一個有趣的現象，但你知不知道在早些年，事實並不是如此？中國早些年的網絡流行語和現在實際上是大不相同的。

"GG" and "MM" , do you know what do they mean? They are actually two very popular cyber buzzwords in China back to around 2007. "GG" is the initials of Chinese pinyin "Ge Ge(哥哥/elder brother)", and "MM" is the initials of Chinese pinyin "Mei Mei(妹妹/younger sister)". People used this kind of abbreviations because it is funny and easier to type(compare to typing whole Chinese word). Buzzword in early years are like this, most of them are formed by abbreviating of Chinese pinyin. For example, what is the meaning of "BT"? Ha-ha, someone may say it is "Bit torrent", but no, it is actually the abbreviation of pinyin "Bian Tai(变态/ abnormal)". Other examples like "SB(傻逼/silly cxxt)"、"SF（沙发/sofa）and "LW(礼物/present)" are all like that. In another perspective, we can also concluded that those buzzwords are came from original Chinese culture.

“GG”和“MM”，你知不知道這兩個詞語的意思？他們其實在2007年的時候曾經是非常熱門的網絡流行語。“GG”是“哥哥”拼音頭兩個字母所組成的，而“MM”是由“妹妹”拼音頭兩個字母組成的。網民們曾經因為它們有趣和簡單，而在網絡上用這類的縮寫。 早年的網絡流行語就像這樣， 大多數都是由拼音縮寫而來。例如，“BT”是什麽意思？哈哈，我知道有人會說是“Bit Torrent”， 但實際上不是的，它其實是“變態”拼音的簡寫。另外的例子例如“SB”、“SF”和“LW”都是如此。另一方面，我們也可以得出這些流行語的來源都是中國文化本身。

But later, around 2008, things begun to change. Cyber buzzwords like "章鱼哥"、"hold住" and "膝盖中箭" shows up. There is a huge different between these new cyber buzzword words and old cyber buzzword, which is the origin of these new words are from foreign culture. "章鱼哥" in fact refer to "Paul Oktopus", the octopus who could predict the result of football match. "Hold住" is a sentence used in TaiWan entertaining TV show, which means to hold the situation. "膝盖中箭(Arrow in the knee)" is a dialogue in American TV game "The Elder Scroll 5", which is used to represent something cannot be accomplished. It is quite clear that their origin is from foreign culture. This kind of buzzword is becoming more and more since then. Old cyber buzzwords are abandoned, there is no one using "GG"、"MM" right now. Instead they will use words like"基佬(not literal meaning, just for making fun like other buzzword)"、"宅男"、"宅女"、"腐女" to call others on internet. They are all from foreign culture like Japan and European countries. 但在2008年左右，事情開始改變. 流行語例如“章魚哥”、“HOLD住”和“膝蓋中箭”開始出現。他們和舊有網絡流行語的區別就在於他們是受到外來文化的影響才產生的。“章魚哥”指的是那隻能夠預測主球比賽結果的“章魚保羅”。“Hold 住”是某個台灣娛樂節目的一句話，用以表示維持形勢。“膝蓋中箭”出自美國的一個遊戲“上古卷軸5”，用來代表本來可以達成卻不能達成的事情。很明顯，這些流行語都出自外國文化。這類型的流行語自那時起變得越來越多。舊有流行語已經被人放棄了，“GG”“MM”在網絡上已經沒人使用，取而代之的是“基佬”、“宅男”、“宅女”、“腐女”等稱呼名詞。他們都是來自外國文化，例如日本和歐洲國家。

There are 3 reasons to explain why the evolution happened. Firstly, China is more open than before, so Chinese netizen can receive information from other part of the world. This increase their chance to touch foreign culture and apply it to Chinese cyber buzzword. Secondly, the Cultural Exportation of China is weaker than other countries. Right now a lot of Chinese indulge in foreign culture like Japanese cartoon and American game. They tend to use word from these culture than Chinese culture. Thirdly, like I said in last blogger. It is funny and interesting. Always use Chinese on internet can be a quite boring thing. So people tend to mix foreign words into Chinese cyber buzzword. 

有三個原因可以解釋這種演變。首先，中國變得更加開放。中國的網民能接觸到更多世界各地的諮詢。這增加了他們接觸外國文化并將他們利用到中國流行語的機會。其次，中國的文化輸出較其他國家為弱。中國網民很容易就被其他國家文化所吸引，例如日本卡通和美國遊戲。因此，他們在網絡上會較為傾向於使用外國流行語。第三，就像我上個部落格所說，這種東西很有趣。在網絡上一直使用中文是比較令人煩悶的，所以網民們傾向於吧外國文字混進中國網絡流行語。