Sixth Tone has announced its Chinese language buzzwords that defined this past year (see previously) with the above dominating question, translating, “city or not”—cosmopolitan, sophisticated, the viral 
phenomenon illustrated below, which demonstrates how seamlessly loan words can be incorporated into the language’s structure. Other shortlisted neologisms include yìng kòng (硬控, pinned in place) borrowed from stalemate and the gaming world as an arresting rubber-necking and the inescapable allure of trending items, bān wèi (班味, office stench) to address that lingering malaise that comes from toil at a job that is not ideal, tōu găn (偷感, thief vibes) used to describe an individual whose definition of oversharing is different from their cadre and introduced as a shorthand for the preoccupation with MBTI personality profiles (see previously here and here), 淡人 vs 浓人 (dàn rén and nóng rén, introverted versus extroverted)—also expressed with 😐/😝. More at the links above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Pope decrees that blessings can be given to same-sex couples (with synchroptica), machine embodiment plus a special deck of playing cards
seven years ago: the Status Quo Ladder plus elevator operators are not extinct careerwise
eight years ago: gemstone batteries plus Spain reconsiders the siesta
nine years ago: emergency lights, weird antique Christmas greetings plus assorted links worth revisiting
ten years ago: Christmas markets past plus the paternalistic nature of the Internet of Things
