Chinese China

二百五

Expression USED Frequently BY Everybody

(250) • Used to describe someone as stupid, or moronic. Origins are debated but often ascribed to a legend about a king offering a 1000 coin reward to anyone admitting to a minister's murder. Four people showed up and offered to split the reward evenly. They were all executed for the 250. Another explanation is that 500 taels were saved by running a rope through the hole in the middle of the coin; the word for half of this rope (250 taels) is a homonym for half-crazy.

"你这个二百五怎么鸡蛋都不会做"

"You 250, you can't even make eggs?"

Chinese China

成全

Expression USED Frequently BY Likely most Chinese speaking countries

(help) • When a man is cheating on a woman, the woman may choose to stay in the relationship, and may also choose to leave. Sometimes when they choose to leave, they will tell others they choose to leave to 成全他们 (Chéng Quán Tā Mēn, literally: help them), as in: they seems to be a perfect match, I will step aside and help them to be the perfect couple. This is sort like the "acceptance" stage of grief. But depending on the perspective this can also be interpreted as self-moved: you didn't do anything much but thought your act was noble.

A：我听说你男朋友劈腿了。 B：对我们分手了，我成全了他们。

A: I heard your boyfriend was cheating on you. B: Yes we broke up, I helped them.

Chinese China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong

喂

Word USED Very frequently BY Everyone

(interj.) • A greeting used most frequently (and nowadays almost exclusively) on telephone calls. The greeting most directly means "Hello" and confirms the phone call has connected.

喂 ，你还在吗?

Hello, are you still there?