Chinese netizens have already started selecting the Internet catchphrases of 2010, though the end of the year is still more than a month away. A netizen nicknamed "Red Rouge" posted a list of the Internet catchphrases of 2010 on the Mop Web forum, and the post soon attracted a large number of replies. "Internet catchphrases headed by 'geili' really rock!" another netizen said.



"Geili" (给力)



"Geili," which is pronounced as "gěi lì," used to be a word only spoken in the northern dialect literally meaning "giving power," but is now widely accepted as an adjective describing something "cool," "awesome," or "exciting." Its antonym "bugeili" means "far from desirable," "dull" or "boring."



"Magic horse is just floating cloud" (神马都是浮云)



"Magic horse" actually does not refer to a horse, but is rather a homophone of "shen me" meaning "what." "Magic horse" replaced its predecessor "xia mi" as the most popular phrase in the Chinese Internet community shortly after its emergence. "Floating cloud" here indicates "purely imaginary" or "disappearing quickly." Altogether, the phrase means "nothing is worth mentioning."



"Wo le ge qu" (我勒个去)



"Wo le ge qu" (or "wo qu") is a very popular teasing expression on Mop used to show "surprise," "discontent," or "powerlessness." Like the "wu hu ai zai" used by ancient Chinese, it is just an interjection and more often than not, has no meaning.



"Un-geili-vable"



Although native English speakers cannot understand this word "un-geili-vable," it is very popular among Chinese netizens. Chinese netizens have not only grasped how to pronounce the word, but also expanded its meaning. "Un-geili-vable" means "bugeili" and "gelivable" means "geili." ("geili" is an adjective describing something "cool," "awesome," or "exciting." Its antonym "bugeili" means "far from desirable," "dull" or "boring.")



"Envy, jealousy and hate" (羡慕嫉妒恨)



The three-word phrase has deep meaning – hate originates from jealousy and jealousy from envy.



"A very hard decision" (非常艰难的决定)



On the evening of Nov. 3, 2010, instant messaging software QQ operator Tencent released a letter to QQ users, claiming that it would halt the operation of QQ on all computers installed with Qihoo's 360 software. Then, netizens started imitating Tencent and wrote open letters and quoted Tencent's most ridiculous words in its letter, "We have made a very hard decision."



"Naotaitao" (闹太套)



Naotaitao is the homophone to the English words "not at all." When Chinese singer Huang Xiaoming sang an English song during an evening party, his pronunciation of the words "not at all" was very similar to "naotaitao." He was mocked by netizens and the word "naotaitao" has become one of the hot online words thereafter.



Furthermore, netizens believe there are far more hot online words for 2010 than those previously listed. How can the words "My father is Li Gang" not be included?



By People's Daily Online