Your 2011 geilivable of ungeilivable?

Chinglish story

This column focuses on Chinglish mistakes in our daily life. If you have any experiences to share, send them to Wang Yu at wangyu2008@ynet.com.

By Han Manman

What was the hottest word in China last year? Nine out of 10 Chinese netizens will tell you it’s the Chinglish word “geilivable,” literally meaning “giving power” or “cool.”

“The word might be a weird and haphazard combination of sounds for people who never surf the Internet, but to a country with 420 million netizens, it’s meaningful,” said Chen Jie, a 28-year-old Beijing native. “It’s even gradually becoming part of the mainstream social language.”

Chen, who works for the marketing department of a Forbes 500 enterprise, said her 2010 was really “geilivable.” She not only got promoted last year, but also found her Mr. Right.

“Geilivable” combines the Chinese characters for “giving strength” (geili) with an English suffix. It can be modified with the prefix un – to mean “not cool at all” – ungeilivable.

The word has even been used in serious media reports.

In November, the People’s Daily carried a news story with the headline, “Jiangsu geilivable cultural province.”

Although some netizens remarked “geilivable” should be used as an adjective, not a verb, they hailed this usage as progress for the stodgy newspaper.

Geilivable is just one of many Chinglish words popular among netizens.
“Niubility” (from niubi, meaning excellent) and “smilence” – meaning to smile and keep silent – are frequently used.

More Chinese people are taking Internet slang and incorporating them into real life.

About 65 percent of respondents of a State Language Commission survey said they believe cyber language can be used in daily life if it is standardized.

“Speaking Chinglish was once considered shameful for the Chinese, but now it’s getting more and more fashionable, even for some foreigners,” said Zheng Mengjuan, one of the report’s compilers.

According to the report, 30 percent of people said cyber language is more charming than traditional language in regards to being “fashionable and unique,” and that certain words should appear in Chinese dictionaries.

“I used to believe only teenagers were fond of using cyber language in real life to show their rebelliousness and make themselves stand out,” Chen said. “But one day I found words like ‘geilivable’ had unconsciously become a part of my daily language.”

“In fact, I think no word better describes my feelings about last year,” she said. “I really love the expression.”