Langauge of lies

This is about one of the biggest hoaxes in Wikipedia's history which has recently been uncovered in China.?

A writer who goes by the name of 折毛 zhé máo has spent the last 10 years creating fictitious detailed historical accounts of parts of Russian history, publishing them in Chinese on Chinese Wikipedia 维基百科 wéi jī bǎi kē.?

The fakes were uncovered by a netizen who realized that the Chinese entries were different to their?English equivalents.

On social media, netizens have mixed opinions.

Some?comments?were about how Zhe Mao should start a career as a novelist. While others were less impressed:?

This has had a really bad effect - how many people who research Russian history have been caught out by this?

这也太坑人了，不知道有多少研究这方面历史的遭了殃啊?

So this week we explore commentary online about Zhe Mao and her creative abilities with lots of vocab about truth, deception and lies.

Enjoy!

1. 坑爹 kēng diē

Translation: really annoying

This?is a Chinese internet slang word that directly translates as?hole?(坑 kēng), which here means “cheat,” and?dad?(爹 diē). In other words, to do something to cheat or make life difficult for your dad.

The phrase originally comes from a Chinese dialect spoken in northern Jiangsu, but was made popular around the launch of the computer game World of Warcraft (魔兽世界 mó shòu shì jiè). In 2012, when the game was under limited release in China, one player managed to access a higher level in the game than was allowed through a loophole in the programming. This was big news in the gaming world: His gaming ID was 坑爹呢这是 kēng diē ne zhè shì.

Example sentence:

这个历史发明家和她干的这些坑爹事儿终于在偶然之间被扒出来了

The inventor of Russian history and the annoying things she does have finally been uncovered, albeit by accident.?

2. 长心眼 zhǎng xīn yǎn

Translation: "grow heart eye", to be extra careful or take precautions?

Heart 心 eye 眼 together mean can mean wisdom or vision in Chinese. To grow (长) a heart-eye means to be extra cautious. It's normally used when someone has been deceived or lost out.

Example sentence:

我当时长了个心眼给群友看了看，然后就发现了问题

At the time I double-checked with colleagues in the social media group, and then found the problem.

3. 捧臭脚 pěng chòu jiǎo

Translation: "lifting stinky feet", suck up to somebody?

This is an Internet slang word which means to suck up to someone even though you know they are wrong (ie they have stinky feet).?

Example sentence:

无一例外都对历史表现出浓厚的兴趣，甚至演起互相认识捧臭脚的戏码

All of the accounts she set up showed a deep interest in history. They even pretenteded to be friends with and suck up to each other.

4. 虚无缥缈 xū wú piāo miǎo

Translation: vague, unreal

This is from a line of a well-known poem by Bái Jūyì 白居易 (772–846), a renowned poet and Tang dynasty. The poem is called Song of Everlasting Sorrow (长恨歌 cháng hèn gē), inspired by a love affair of the emperor Xuanzong of Tang (唐玄宗 táng xuán zōng). Everlasting Sorry is is most famous work, and any one in China will be familiar with the last two lines of this poem.

Example sentence:

自己也面临生产，声称不会再去做这些虚无缥缈的事情了

She is also facing the fact that she’ll have a baby soon. She said she will no longer write these fake stories.

5. 一个谎言需要用一百个谎言去圆 yī ge huǎng yán xū yào yòng yī bǎi ge huǎng yán qù yuán

Translation: it takes one hundred lies to cover up a single untruth

This well-known phrase can take on a number of different forms. But the central meaning is captured in the character - 圆 yuán - which here is a verb which means to make perfect, or justify.

In other words no matter how many lies you try to cover the initial untruth with, it still doesn't make it right.

Example sentence:

一个谎言总要由另一个谎言去圆，或许这就是折毛修改历史百科一发不可收拾的原因吧

Lying begets more lying. Perhaps this was the reason why Zhe Mao kept re-writing history.?

And on that note, that's all for this week.

Try to include at least one of them in your Chinese conversations this week.?

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