Niubi! The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School

脱衣女郎 tuōyī nǚláng (twuh ee duh nee lahng)

Stripper. Literally “taking-off-clothes girl.”

路怒 lù nù (loo noo)

Road rage. Traffic in Beijing, and China ’s other major cities, is notoriously bad.

欺骗 qīpiàn (chee pyinn)

Cheat (any kind of cheating). A cheater is a 骗子 piànzi (pyinn dz).

小混混 xiǎo húnhún (shyaow hwen hwen) or 混子 hunzǐ (hwen dz)

Small-time crook.

假活儿 jiǎ huór (jah hwurr)

Beijing slang for a swindler or con man. Literally “fake work.”

小报告 xiǎobào gào (shaow baow gaow-all three syllables rhyme with “cow”)

Snitching. Literally “file little secret reports.”

踩 cǎi (tsigh)

To slander, libel, insult. Literally “step on.”

暴打 bào dǎ (baow dah)

Beat up.

满地找牙 mǎn dì zhǎo yá (mahn dee jaow yah)

Get beaten up. Literally “find [one’s] teeth on the ground.” Used in northern China.

掐 qiā (chyah) or 掐架 qiājià (chyah jah)

Fight.

干 gān (gahn) or 干架 gānjià (gahn jah)

Fight. Also slang for “kill.”

废 fèi (fay)

To injure or maim. Can also mean “to break” or “amputate.”

给他个颜色看看 gěi tā ge yánsè kànkan (gay tah guh yen suh kahn kahn)

Beat him up. Literally “give him a color to see” (that color being red).

找不着北 zhǎobùzháoběi (jow boo jow bay)

Knock out, beat up. Can also mean “to get confused.” Literally “unable to find where north is.”

五指山红 wǔ zhǐ shān hóng (ooh jih shahn hohng)

Literally “five fingers turning red.” That is, a slap so hard it leaves five red finger marks on your face.

全武行 quán wǔ xíng (chren oo sheeng)

Fighting in public. The term originally referred to acrobatic fighting in Chinese opera performances. Now it also refers to fighting in the streets or other public places.

铁头功 tiě tóu gōng (tyih toe gohng)

Head butt.

打一拳 dǎ yī quán (dah ee chren)

Punch. Literally “hit (with) a fist.” Or you can specify the person being punched by saying 给他一拳 gěi tā yī quán (gay tah ee chren), literally “give him a fist,” meaning “punch him.”

顺出去 shùn chūqù (shwen choo chee)

Means “to carry something out vertically,” for example, turning a dresser on its side and moving it out of the bedroom, but can also mean carrying a person out after beating them up, as when someone is being kicked out of a bar. Used in northern China only.

脚底摸油 jiǎo dǐ mō yóu (jyow dee mwuh yo)

Cut and run, leave the scene of the crime, remove oneself from an awkward situation. Literally “apply oil to the soles of your feet”; that is, to speed your retreat.

Pornography

黄 huáng (hwahng) or 黄色 huángsè (hwahng suh)

Obscene, dirty, pornographic. Literally “yellow.” In Chinese class you’re most likely to learn 色情 sèqíng (suh cheeng) for “pornography”; it, however, is considered outdated. Nowadays anything pornographic or dirty is referred to as “yellow,” an association that may have originated in the nineteenth century, when French novels, recognizable by their yellow covers, became notorious throughout the world for their “immoral” sexual content. Thus a pornographic movie is a 黄色电影 huángsè diànyĭng (hwahng suh dyinn ing), literally “yellow movie”; a 黄带 huángdài (hwahng die), “yellow tape”; or 黄片 huángpiān (hwahng pyinn), literally “yellow piece.” A porno mag is a 黄色书刊 huángsè shūkān (hwahng suh shoo kahn), literally “yellow book,” and a dirty joke or story is a 黄段子 huáng duànzǐ (hwahng dwun dz), or “yellow episode.”

毛片 máopiān (mao pyinn)

Porn video. Literally “hair tape” because you can see pubic hair.

A 片 A piàn (A pyinn)

Hard-core porn movie. Literally “A video,” for “adult video” (though, interestingly, some Chinese mistakenly believe the A stands for American).

三级片 sānjí piàn (sahn gee pyinn)

Soft-core porn movie. Literally “level-three video,” referring to the most restrictive level in Hong Kong ’s movie-rating system.

Drugs

吸毒 xīdú (she do)

To take drugs. Literally “suck poison.”

毒贩子 dúfànzǐ (do fahn dz) or just 毒贩 dúfàn (do fahn)

Drug dealer. “To deal drugs” is 贩毒 fàndú (fahn do).

药物滥用 yàowù lànyòng (yaow oo lahn yohng) or 毒品滥用 dúpǐn lànyòng (do peen lahn yohng)

Substance abuse. Literally “drug excessive use.” The first term can mean any type of drugs, including medicine, and the second term specifically means illegal drugs, but both are frequently used. You can insert the name of a drug in front of 滥用 lànyòng to indicate abuse of that specific drug.

瘾君子 yǐnjūnzǐ (een jwen dz)

Drug addict. Literally “addicted gentleman” or “addicted nobleperson,” because once upon a time only wealthy people could afford drugs, and opium was considered a status symbol.

抽 chōu (choe)

Smoke (as in smoking marijuana, opium, heroin, etc.). 吸 Xī (she), literally “inhale,” can be used too, though it is less common than chōu.

用 yòng (yohng)

Use. Can be inserted in front of any drug name to indicate use of that drug. For heroin or opium, however, it’s more common to say yòng than xī or chōu (above), even though they can be smoked.

逗 dòu (doe)

Use. Has a variety of unrelated literal meanings, including “stop” and “tease,” but is also used as slang for using drugs.

飞 fēi (fay)

High. Literally “to fly.” Usually describes being high on marijuana but can also be used for ecstasy, heroin, and other euphoric drugs. 飞起 Fēi qǐ (fay chee), literally “flying upwards,” describes the feeling of getting high, and 太起了 tài qǐ le (tie chee luh), literally “rising too much,” describes being too high.

大 dà (dah) or 大了 dà le (dah luh)

An all-purpose Beijing word for “drunk,” “wasted,” “high,” “fucked up,” etc. Literally “big.” Can indicate being under the influence of any drug. You can simply say, “我大了” “Wǒ dà le” (wuh dah luh), literally “I’m big,” to mean “I’m high” or “I’m on something” or “I’m fucked up.” Or you can be more specific by inserting various drug-related verbs (smoke, use, eat) in front; for example 我抽大了 wǒ chōu dà le (wuh choe dah luh) literally means “I smoked big” and indicates that you are high on marijuana or something else that can be smoked.

有感觉 yǒu gǎnjué (yo gahn dreh)

Literally “have a feeling” or, rather, “I feel something” or “I’m feeling it,” indicating that you’re feeling the effects of a drug, whether you’re feeling high or a trip is setting in or things are starting to get funny or whatever.

沉了 chén le (chen luh) or 颓了 tuí le (tway luh)