Video: 'Smacking Horse Butt' and Untangling China's Most Colorful Slang
The Great LOL of China, made in conjunction with Asia Society's China Learning Initiatives, is a bilingual video series starring Beijing-based American comedian Jesse Appell. The bi-weekly episodes aim to highlight unique aspects of Chinese culture and society through comedy.
In this week's episode, Jesse explores how the actual meaning of a Chinese word can be quite far removed from its literal English translation. In a game of charades on the Chinese Slang Gameshow, two Mandarin learners compete to sort out the meanings behind Chinese slang, from "lightbulb" to "smacking horse butt."