April 22 Buzzwords

消费税（xiao1fei4shui4）
excise tax
The nation hopes the excise tax it started on April 1 to levy on cars, as well as other luxury products, will control the number of sedans on the roads as part of its effort to cut energy use and rein in air pollution.

全武行（quan2wu3hang2）
acrobatic fighting, scuffle
The term originally means the acrobatic fighting in traditional Chinese operas. These days it refers to the undue fighting or violence at a public place such as in the street or a parliament hall.

老克勒（lao3ke4le4）
class, cognoscente
This is a well-known Chinglish term in the Shanghai dialect, which derived from the English word “class” of “classy” in the 1930s and 1940s. The Chinese term was used to describe the “high-class” Shanghai gentlemen who lived a Western-style life in the city. Now, it also has a connotation of being around a lot and knowing all the answers.

搞定（gao3ding4）
fix something or someone
To gaoding someone has almost the same meaning as “fixing” someone. It could mean you have reached a deal with someone, or even have someone deep-sixed. To gaoding something also has similar meanings as “fixing” something.

黑广告（hei1guang3gao4）
illegal ad poster
The city’s Huangpu District authority is planning to launch a campaign to stop illegal advertising posters in the Bund area, which are mostly phone numbers about fake medicines and other illicit businesses. Some people also call the posters “psoriasis” because of their ugly appearance.

裸聊（luo3liao2）
nude web-cam session
Police in Jiangsu Province have caught a hacker who snuck into a couple’s nude web-cam session, and took stills of the wife and e-mailed them to the couple “for fun.”

面霸(mian4ba4)
interview buster
Some young people are always on the hunt for better jobs even though they already have one or got other offers. So, they take endless interviews at different places. The Chinese term was borrowed form a well-known instant noodle brand because the two Chinese characters, “face” and “buster,” have some implication of such a phenomenon.

农家乐（nong2jia1le4）
farmer’s home inn
During the weeklong golden holidays, people often cannot find hotels in popular sites, so some farmers will lend their houses to tourists, which are cheaper than normal hotels. Tourists can also eat with the farmer’s family and do farmer chores for fun.