逆天 (n#ti`n) originally referred to a violation of the natural world, something that defies nature itself. Imagine an old kung fu master giving advice to his disciple: “一切順應(yīng)自然,決不可逆天行事!” (Y!qi- shny#ng z#r1n, ju9 b k0 n#ti`n x!ngsh#!)—“You’d better obey the laws of nature, rather than running against them!” To the disappointment of the master, the modern world is full of the amazing, the crazy, and the just plain odd.
Naturally, 逆天 is now popular slang for people who behave outrageously or an event that breaches convention. For example, when you see a North Korean girl spinning at high speeds with a jar sitting steady on her head for about 40 seconds, you yell: “太逆天了!” (T3i n#ti`n le!)—“Outrageous!” Millions of online viewers did so when the dance video went viral in March. Unlike the ancient nitian phrase, 開掛 (k`igu3) originated in the digital world, referring to the use of an illegal plug-in. In short, the term is used in a very similar way to “mod” in geek speak, meaning to hack and modify a game to give yourself more power or better scores. But this term has moved offline and is now used to describe someone who does something so amazing that it seems as though they are scamming reality—“Surely that’s cheating! Unbelievable!” (那家伙肯定開掛了!N3 ji`huo k0nd#ng k`igu3 le!) However, the word is used simply to express surprise, not to suggest someone is actually cheating.
亮瞎 (li3ngxi`) runs along similar lines, in that it means to feel so amazed that you might go blind. For example,“This news title is so sensational that I might go blind reading it” (這個(gè)新聞標(biāo)題亮瞎了我的雙眼。Zh-ge x~nw9n bi`ot! li3ngxi`le w6 de shu`ngy2n). - ALICIA ZHANG (張華陽)
漢語世界(The World of Chinese)
2013年4期