Ungelivable
I saw this word on a post on my Facebook news feed. It’s
basically Chinglish (blend of Chinese and English) which is frequently used on
Chinese Internet. I don’t envision this word appearing on GRE any time soon. Nonetheless,
it is evidence of the influence of globalization and the Internet on language
and culture.
As defined in the Urban
Dictionary, “Ungelivable is constructed by Chinese internet users literally
meaning "forcefulness". It is used to express the feeling of
unforceful, unsatisfactory, lousy, unpleasant, unfavorable, terrible.”
Schott’s Vocab, a NY Times
online blog, on 11/18/10, wrote, Geili
is a Chinese Internet buzzword which means “cool,” “awesome”
or “exciting.” Literally, “giving power.”
The Shanghai Daily
reported that a Chinese neologism, “geili,” which means, “cool,” “awesome” or “exciting,”
had been granted the “official seal of approval” by appearing in The People’s
Daily – the official paper of the Communist Party:
“Geili” is created from
two Chinese characters “gei” and “li.” Literally, it means “giving power,” but
is now widely accepted as an adjective describing something that’s “cool.”
A test of a Chinese jargon
word’s trendiness is if users translate it into a foreign language, according
to its pronunciation. “Geili” has been transformed into the English-sounding
“gelivable,” and “ungelivable,” and the French “très guélile.”
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