‘Austin Li is out of touch’ — Phrase of the Week
China's Lipstick King is out of touch. And there's a new meme about it.
Our Phrase of the Week is: Austin Li is out of touch (哪李贵了 nǎlǐ guìle).
The context
Austin Li (李佳琦 Lǐ Jiāqí), also known as China’s “Lipstick King,” is facing criticism from fans in China.
During a live broadcast last week, the beauty influencer responded to a question about the high price tag of a 79 yuan ($11) eyebrow pencil.
Li reacted in annoyance:
“How is that expensive?! The price has been the same for so many years. Don’t talk nonsense. It’s difficult for domestic brands…Sometimes you need to look to yourself for the answers. Has your salary increased over so many years? Have you worked hard?”
“哪里贵了？这么多年都是这个价格，不要睁着眼睛乱说，国货品牌很难的，有的时候找找自己原因，这么多年了工资涨没涨，有没有认真工作？”
“Nǎlǐ guìle? Zhème duōnián dōushì zhège jiàgé, búyào zhēngzhe yǎnjing luànshuō, guóhuò pǐnpái hěn nán de…Yǒude shíhou zhǎozhǎo zìjǐ yuányīn, zhème duōniánle gōngzī zhǎng méi zhǎng, yǒuméiyǒu rènzhēn gōngzuò?”
His reaction did not go down well. Fans began unfollowing him, and internet users criticized him, with some creating new memes and internet slang, according to an article published in the popular WeChat account of Sanlian Lifeweek.
As a result, the new meme “How is that expensive?!” appeared, mocking Li’s arrogance for not knowing the suffering of the people. One comment on Weibo received over 500,000 likes: “You make money from ordinary people, but then you mock them for being poor.”
坊间因此出现一个新词“哪李贵了,” 挖苦他不知民间疾苦的傲慢；在微博上有一条评论超过50万人点赞：“你挣着普通人的钱，到头来嘲讽普通人贫穷。”
Fǎngjiān yīncǐ chūxiàn yígè xīncí “nǎlǐ guìle,” wākǔ tā bùzhī mínjiān jíkǔ de àomàn; zài wēibó shàng yǒu yitiáo pínglùn chāoguò 50 wàn rén diǎnzàn: “Nǐ zhèngzhe pǔtōngrén de qián, dàotóulái cháofěng pǔtōng rén pínqióng.”
And with that, we have our Phrase of the Week!
What it means
How is that expensive?! is a new internet slang term and a play on the words for where and Li in Chinese.
But it’s completely lost in translation: The character for place (里 lǐ) in the word for where (哪里 nǎlǐ) in Chinese, which directly translates as “what place,” has been replaced with the family name of Austin Li (Lǐ 李).
These two characters are homophones. They sound exactly the same, but have different meanings.
Creative internet users took Austin Li’s reaction of “How is that expensive?!” (哪里贵了?! nǎlǐ guìle), swapping in the Li for his name to create this meme: 哪李贵了?! nǎlǐ guìle.
Entertaining word play with homophones is common in Chinese internet slang. But there is usually a serious message behind the humor. Here, the criticism of Li is that he’s out of touch with his fans, with no idea how difficult it is for them to keep their job, let alone get paid more to do it no matter how hard they work.
More memes followed, sparking discussions about what can be bought for 79 yuan in China now. And the price tag of the eyebrow pencil brand, Florasis, has become a newly invented virtual currency, Florasis Coin (花西币 huāxī bì), a joke currency worth 79 yuan for special use by China’s working class.
So our translation of this new meme and this week’s Phrase of the Week is: “Austin Li is out of touch.”
