Awesome
Probably one of the most popular new age Chinese phrases, literally means "cow's vagina." Its history goes way back, almost to the stone age (a.k.a. non-internet age), but never fall out of use.
Allegedly, this phrase derived from the classic phrase 吹牛屄 (lit. blowing cow's vagina), which itself derived from a similar phrase 吹牛皮 (lit. blowing cow's skin). Both meaning to boast or to brag, but the latter were a literal practice to begin with.
Cow or goat skin blowing used to be a common practice in inland regions of China, because air-filled skins were used as floating devices where boats were either uncommon or unfit. A goat's skin is relatively easy to blow up due to its size, blow up a cow or a bull's skin is the true test of a man's skill and lung capacity, and it was always done by the "professional blowers," for lack of a better word.
The profession went obsolete with the introduce of modern technology, and so did the precise usage of the phrase. While the whole phrase remained to be a synonym to unrealistic boasting, a new derivative emerged and dropped the "blow" part. Since be able to blow up a cow's skin was considered an extraordinary feat, this new phrase inherited the incredibility and made the cow's skin itself the synonym of amazement.
Although the final product really has nothing to do with cow's vagina, it still writes like one. As an effort of normalizing the phrase, people replaced the vagina part with a similar sounding letter B or character 逼 (lit. to force, but literal meaning is dropped).
Awesome
Probably one of the most popular new age Chinese phrases, literally means "cow's vagina." Its history goes way back, almost to the stone age (a.k.a. non-internet age), but never fall out of use.
Allegedly, this phrase derived from the classic phrase 吹牛屄 (lit. blowing cow's vagina), which itself derived from a similar phrase 吹牛皮 (lit. blowing cow's skin). Both meaning to boast or to brag, but the latter were a literal practice to begin with.
Cow or goat skin blowing used to be a common practice in inland regions of China, because air-filled skins were used as floating devices where boats were either uncommon or unfit. A goat's skin is relatively easy to blow up due to its size, blow up a cow or a bull's skin is the true test of a man's skill and lung capacity, and it was always done by the "professional blowers," for lack of a better word.
The profession went obsolete with the introduce of modern technology, and so did the precise usage of the phrase. While the whole phrase remained to be a synonym to unrealistic boasting, a new derivative emerged and dropped the "blow" part. Since be able to blow up a cow's skin was considered an extraordinary feat, this new phrase inherited the incredibility and made the cow's skin itself the synonym of amazement.
Although the final product really has nothing to do with cow's vagina, it still writes like one. As an effort of normalizing the phrase, people replaced the vagina part with a similar sounding letter B or character 逼 (lit. to force, but literal meaning is dropped).
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