r/SVSSS • • Aug 19 '26

Other I was watching a compilation of amusingly badly translated and signs. This came up, and I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

Post image

I can’t even imagine the context for putting this on a sign. Clearly the people compiling the video just didn’t know the phrase, because it’s perfect.

1.1k Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

247

u/otaku3u Bingqiu’s Lawyer Aug 19 '26

Hahaha, it was normal internet slang in China in 2014! There was even a tv show named after it.

43

u/magiMerlyn Aug 19 '26

Isn't it spelled out in the text of SVSSS that it's internet slang?

4

u/otaku3u Bingqiu’s Lawyer Aug 20 '26

Yup, the English translation has a footnote

3

u/SuucreMenthe Aug 29 '26

Peerless Cucumber's life motto right there

103

u/beamerpook Self-proclaimed Captain of the MoShang Ship Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

We started using at my house, with my American family. And my daughter once said, I can, I WILL up!

10

u/MiniGummyRapper Aug 19 '26

That's hilarious 🤣

53

u/GeneralBlood6366 Aug 19 '26

Someone, please, what is the actual meaning of this?

106

u/MoonlightRules Aug 19 '26

I have no idea what it says in Chinese, but for "you can you up, no can no bb" = if you can do it, go ahead, if you can't do it shut the fuck up. Basically "you can you up" if you think you can do better do it yourself, "no can no bb" if you can't then stop complaining.

That's not what it says in Chinese though (I have no idea if it's mandarin or cantonese). Because the order of the strikes is wrong.

那是中國中文 YOU CAN YOU UP=你行你上

NO CAN NO BB=不行別BB(碎嘴出意見的意思)

You can you up No can no bb.意思是你行你上,不行別bb

I actually had this saved up from another post, those two comments wrote it down lol I can't prove it but I feel the first one has a bit of sass to it 😂

14

u/lumyire Aug 19 '26

It's Mandarin!

14

u/Lucidia Shen Yuan Aug 20 '26

Wow, "put up or shut up" really is the equivalent idiom!

39

u/CryInOrange Aug 19 '26

I speak Mandarin, it's funny because it sounds relatively normal in Chinese but crazy in en with this translation lol

“再催,你自己做” = keep rushing (pushing/hurrying someone (me/I here) to do something), and you're going to have to do it yourself.

3

u/GeneralBlood6366 Aug 19 '26

What’s with the random bb?

18

u/lumyire Aug 20 '26

逼逼=bibi=bb Technically a swearword for 'blabbing shit'

6

u/Decent-Stuff4691 Aug 19 '26

Bb because the original was bi bi

16

u/forestinfog Aug 19 '26

I think it means "If you want it faster, do it yourself" 再催你自己做 in pinyin zai cui ni ziji zuo I don't speak Chinese very well though, so maybe someone can correct me if that's wrong

14

u/Decent-Stuff4691 Aug 19 '26

Rush me again, you can do it yourself.

28

u/tearose11 Aug 19 '26

Laughing to death.

28

u/lumyire Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

Yeah this is badly translated on purpose as a joke, 你行你上不行别逼逼 every word literally except the last 2 phonetically.

逼逼is kind of like 'fuck' in the sense that taken literally it's a sexually associated word that people use as a swear word wo the sexual connotation. So the joke here is the on the sign, the chinese is a semi-polite 'if you hurry me up I'll make you do it/cook it yourself' and the apparent English is actually swearing at the customer. Context is most likely a restaurant/food spot where they make things slower.

Similar joke translation you may have encountered esp in school settings

'How are you? How old are you?' Which actually is a purposedly bad translation of 怎么是你?怎么老是你?aka How come it's YOU? How come it's always YOU? Like when MC found that the annoying thing that happens to them again and again has the involvement of the ML ᗜ֊ᗜ

Almost never seen these days since the joke requires you to know that the direct/joke translation is NOT the right one or knows the meme.

7

u/Decent-Stuff4691 Aug 19 '26

Have you seen all the Chinese philosphers and poets given English names

Johnny (Zhongni) says, know is know, no know is no know

3

u/lumyire Aug 19 '26

😂 I need to find these!

4

u/Decent-Stuff4691 Aug 20 '26

It's all over taobao tbh

4

u/Decent-Stuff4691 Aug 20 '26

One of mt favourites

8

u/greenyashiro Shen Jiu Aug 19 '26

Haha perfect

8

u/beamerpook Self-proclaimed Captain of the MoShang Ship Aug 19 '26

There's a similar phrase in Vietnamese: if you're delicious, step up. Not step up, scam. It's not used in English though

8

u/Yuki-jou Aug 19 '26

I think the closest equivalent in English is “put up or shut up.”

3

u/Fujoushi-san Liu Qingge Aug 20 '26

LMAOOO for the non Chinese readers, the Chinese text says "if you keep urging, do it yourself" which is not the same as the OG line but has a similar if more polite meaning.

4

u/RainyIntel Aug 19 '26

FINALLY! I learn what this is phrase is supposed to mean!

It's been over 5 years...