HEYGOW
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中文
Joking and irony 100
100
phrases
Teasing
10
你脸皮真厚 - your facial skin is really thick - is the standard tease for shamelessness, and 脸皮厚 is a fixed expression. 你也有今天 - so you too have this day - is said when someone finally gets what they had coming, and tone decides whether it lands as fond or cruel.
Laughing at yourself
10
工具人 - "tool person" - is recent slang for someone used for what they can do rather than who they are, and calling yourself one is a joke with a real complaint inside. 别问，问就是穷 - don't ask, if you ask it's poverty - is a whole internet format compressed.
Laying it on thick
10
我等到花儿都谢了 - I waited until the flowers all wilted - is the loveliest exaggeration here and comes from a song lyric. 我信了你的邪 - I believed your nonsense - is a northern expression that means you fell for it, said with rueful admiration.
Irony
10
呵呵 is the single most dangerous thing in this category: written in a message it does not mean laughter, it means contempt, and Chinese internet users treat it as an insult. 你可真是个人才 - you really are a talent - is sarcasm almost every time it is said.
Wordplay and banter
10
梗 is the word for a joke reference, a meme, a running gag - 我接不上这梗 means the reference went over your head. 明褒暗贬 - open praise, hidden disparagement - names the technique, and having the name makes it easier to spot.
Firing back
10
行行行，你赢了 - fine fine fine, you win - concedes a joking argument without conceding anything, and repeating a word three times is a real feature of spoken Chinese impatience. 这仇我记下了 - I've noted this grudge - is mock revenge and only ever a joke.
Ribbing with praise
10
该请客了吧 - shouldn't you be treating us? - is the standard response to anyone's good news, and it is affectionate rather than grasping: sharing luck by paying for a meal is the expected move. 藏得挺深啊 teases someone for keeping a secret well.
When the joke falls flat
10
冷场 - the scene goes cold - is the word for a silence after a joke fails, and having a name for it lets you name it out loud, which is the fastest repair. 我尴尬得脚趾抠地 - so awkward my toes dig into the floor - is modern internet imagery and very widely used.
When it goes too far
10
适可而止 - stop at the point where it is fitting - is the four-character way to call time on a joke, and it works because it criticises the amount rather than the joke. 我认真的 - I'm being serious - drops the register instantly and is understood at once.
Affectionate ribbing
10
咱俩谁跟谁啊 - between the two of us, who is who? - means we're too close for formality, and it is one of the warmest sentences in this whole site. 你呀你 - you, oh you - is affectionate exasperation and needs no verb at all.
Related categories
Softening & hinting 100
Conversation flow 100
Set phrases & idioms 100
Four-character idioms 100
Telling a story 100
Arguing a case 100
Grumbling 100
Formal occasions 100
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中文