夺笋duó sǔn

How mean (a bamboo-shoot pun)

nǐ kě zhēn shì duó sǔn a!你可真是夺笋啊！You’re so mean!

夺笋 is a pun on 多损, “how mean”. Written this way, it says “snatch bamboo shoots”. People use it to tease a friend for a mean joke or a sneaky trick.

Took off: 2021
Started in: A livestreamer’s accent
Today: Fading

What it means

损 means mean or cutting, as in a sharp remark, and 多损 means “how mean”. In a northeastern accent, 多损 sounds like 夺笋, so people online began to write it that way.

The bamboo shoots brought pandas into the joke: wild pandas fight over shoots, their main food. Variants include 山上的笋都被你夺完了, “you’ve snatched every bamboo shoot on the mountain”, and the riddle 大熊猫点外卖——笋到家了, “a panda orders delivery: the shoots come to the door”. The answer is a pun on 损到家了, “as mean as it gets”.

How people use it

It is less common than in 2021, but people still know it. It is friendly teasing between friends, and it can even praise a clever prank. Do not use it for real cruelty.

灯灯

我新剪的头发怎么样？
wǒ xīn jiǎn de tóu fa zěn me yàng?
How’s my new haircut?
挺好的，像我家的小狗
tǐng hǎo de, xiàng wǒ jiā de xiǎo gǒu
Nice. You look like my puppy.
你也太夺笋了吧！
nǐ yě tài duó sǔn le ba!
That’s so mean!
开玩笑的，真的好看
kāi wán xiào de, zhēn de hǎo kàn
Just kidding. It really looks good.

More examples

你把我的照片发到群里了？你可真是夺笋啊。
nǐ bǎ wǒ de zhào piàn fā dào qún lǐ le? nǐ kě zhēn shì duó sǔn a.
You posted my photo in the group chat? You’re so mean.
他故意把最后一块蛋糕吃了，太夺笋了！
tā gù yì bǎ zuì hòu yí kuài dàn gāo chī le, tài duó sǔn le!
He ate the last piece of cake on purpose. So mean!

Where it came from

The Paper says a livestreamer made the pun popular, and one article dates it to 2020. The World of Chinese adds that the livestreamer speaks with a northeastern accent.

In December 2021, Language Weekly, a Shanghai paper, put 夺笋 on its list of the ten internet phrases of the year.

The original. There is no single image. The World of Chinese explains the pun and its panda jokes. The World of Chinese