Comment by Brandon on July 17, 2011 at 9:59pm

This post is great!  Thanks for writing it.  

Do you know where 丁克族 dīng kè zú came from?  It almost looks like a transliteration from an English slang term DINK - which stands for Dual Income No Kids, meaning both parents have a job (2 incomes) without having kids...

Comment by Zhang Wenzhuo on July 17, 2011 at 10:26pm

Haha...it came from DINK, 丁克 sounds like DINK !

Comment by Stuffedtuna on July 18, 2011 at 10:43am

Wow, thank you very much, the post is great! It would be great too if I can also hear some explanation from others about the origin of those words.

Comment by Zhang Wenzhuo on July 18, 2011 at 9:57pm

Hi, Stuffedtuna. I've searched the Internet about the origin of the rest 4 words, they are not like 丁克族, they were just created by young people. :)

Comment by Gillian Law on July 19, 2011 at 4:45am

It is a great post, thanks! We're definitely 丁克族.

Comment by Stuffedtuna on July 19, 2011 at 1:57pm

I found 月光族 the most interesting. It's the hardest to guess the meaning, other than that, it sounds like some names in 武侠小说!

Comment by Quek Sai Kee on July 20, 2011 at 4:45am

Very interesting post!

啃老族sounds so scary, like milking the old dry, till they are all skin and bone and have got nothing left!

Comment by Zhang Wenzhuo on July 20, 2011 at 8:10am

Hi, Gillian, you're welcome! :)

Hi, Quek Sai Kee, yeah, I agree with you, but 啃老族 describes this group of people very vividly! Most of them think that they are the only child in their families, their parents' money or something must be theirs! So they wouldn't stop blaging until their parents have nothing left!

Comment by DK 大牛 on November 22, 2011 at 10:39pm

I heard about another group: 宅女 and 宅男... people in their 20s and 30s who still live with their parents, aren't married, and really like staying at home. Whether it's watching movies, cooking, or computer games.

I have no idea how to translate it in English. We have "housewife & househusband" or "stay at home mom/stay at home dad"? A grown adult who still lives with their parents, though, is looked down upon. "The guy who lives in his mom's basement". But in China, it doesn't seem to be looked down upon so much.

Any insight?

Comment by Zhang Wenzhuo on November 23, 2011 at 9:41am

Hi，DK

宅男宅女 is a internet slang. This group of people have a few typical characteristics: be obsessed with something, cannot live without computer or internet, do not want to go to school or go to work, do not have a stable schedule, barely go out and don't like meeting new people, of course most of them are singles......Some of the 宅男宅女 are 啃老族.

 

I don't know how to translate it in English either, it's hard to translate one language completely into another. haha....How about " housegirl & houseboy"? :)

 

In China, most of the young people (except the one who works / studies in another city) live with their parents until they get married, it is normal. China is a developing country with a huge population, if all the young people who are not married live alone or live together with their friends/colleagues, it would not only increase housing problem, but economic burden.

Another thing is not all the people who live with their parents are 宅男宅女/啃老族, they go to work everyday, have many social activities, they give living expenses to their parents every month (most of the time their parents will save the money for them). This group is called 上班族（The guy who go to work every day）!

 

Anything more that you want to know, just tell me, I'd love to help! :)

 

 

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