Being in a new country and environment for more than a month, one can slowly start to immerse themselves in the various cultures of that new environment, and learn more about themselves through the world around them. We start to pick out the little similarities and differences between our societies.
During the tour around the ZJU campus with our TAs, we chanced upon a phrase that she used: “好六”. Intrigued, we started to question her about the meaning of “六”. Turns out that it is a local slang in China that means “cool”, or as Ron in the Harry Potter series would say: “wicked!”
With this being a week 6 post, it’s only right for me to write about the Origins of 六.
My friends and I began to use the word “六” more and more, replacing it with “cool” as we gradually assimilated to the culture and lingo here. However, it was not until our Shanghai adventures that we discovered the origins of this slang.
We met up with some friends that were having their exchange at Shanghai and one of them shared with us how “六” came to be. It all started with the game DOTA. Gamers wanted to praise each others’ good gameplay by saying “一流”. However, it was too difficult and time consuming to type “一流” while actively playing their game, and hence they decided to just type “6″ in place of “流”. This slang started to catch on and eventually became commonly used even outside gaming situations. That, my friends, was the origins of “六”.
