你品，你细品nǐ pǐn, nǐ xì pǐn

Taste it, taste it slowly

nǐ pǐn, nǐ xì pǐn.你品，你细品。Taste it. Taste it slowly.

你品，你细品 means “taste it, taste it slowly”. You say it after a line that hides a second meaning, and you let the other person work it out.

Took off: 2019
Started in: A comedy video
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

品 means “to taste” or “to savor”, as you would with tea. 细品 is “to taste carefully”. The phrase asks you to think about what was really meant.

It usually follows a quote, a screenshot or an odd coincidence. You point at the hidden meaning and stop there. Explaining it would spoil it.

How people use it

It is still common in comments and chats, sometimes cut to 细品. It suits gossip, office life and anything with a double meaning.

琦琦

小王请假了，说他头疼
xiǎo wáng qǐng jià le, shuō tā tóu téng
Xiao Wang took the day off. Says he has a headache.
今天不是有球赛吗？
jīn tiān bú shì yǒu qiú sài ma?
Isn’t the big game today?
对，下午三点开始。你品，你细品
duì, xià wǔ sān diǎn kāi shǐ. nǐ pǐn, nǐ xì pǐn
Yep, at three. Think about that.
懂了，这头疼来得真巧
dǒng le, zhè tóu téng lái de zhēn qiǎo
Got it. What a well-timed headache.

More examples

他说“我没事”，你品，你细品。
tā shuō “wǒ méi shì”, nǐ pǐn, nǐ xì pǐn.
He said “I’m fine.” Think about that.
老板说周末加班是“自愿”的，你品，你细品。
lǎo bǎn shuō zhōu mò jiā bān shì “zì yuàn” de, nǐ pǐn, nǐ xì pǐn.
The boss says weekend overtime is “voluntary”. Think about it.

Where it came from

Explainers from late 2019 trace it to a comedy video. In it, a man talks his wife out of buying a bag by asking her to weigh the bag against buying a house, then tells her 你品，你细品. The game site 3DM explained it on October 29, 2019, and Minnan Net in January 2020. Neither names the people in the video or where it first appeared.

Language Weekly, a Shanghai paper, put it on its list of the ten top internet phrases of 2020, The Paper reported.