Today when I was having dinner with two of my friends, suddenly one of them said: ‘check it out, that girl, 6 o’clock, is very Meng’. And the other said: ‘ Wow, she is Meng!’

Okay, both of them were talking in Chinese and I know every word they said. But I couldn’t understand it!

Then I asked:’What? What is Meng?’

Then they were gigling and said:’ you are so out! Go back and google it!’

I have to say I was very annoyed but I did google it after I was back home.

Okay, now I know what they were talking about. Meng!

Meng (萌) originally in Chinese means sprout or germinate. But due to the strong influence of Japanese Cartoon culture, it is now used as an adjective, which means a person (usually a young girl) is ultimately cute, innocent, naive, all these combination. Actually it is very hard to give an accurate defination to Meng, because it is kind of mixed feeling you have. Okay, look at the picture below, you may get more about Meng.

You can use Meng to describe what you feel when you see this girl!

I have to say I failed to keep up with the new generation. Before, there was this word ‘Jiong’ (囧) became very hot. It was easier to guess the meaning of Jiong because the Chinese character is exactly like a face sign when a person feels embarrased, or upset. But now it is getting harder to understand those words used by the post 1990s if you are not in that field (Japanese cartoon).

Tags: Culture Matters

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