社牛shè niú

Socially fearless

wǒ shì shè niú!我是社牛！I’m socially fearless!

社牛 is a person who is completely at ease with strangers: they chat with anyone, speak up in any room and never feel awkward. Its opposite is 社恐, the person who would rather hide.

Took off: 2021
Started in: A joke diagnosis
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

社恐 is short for 社交恐惧症, social anxiety disorder. Online, people use it loosely, as a joke about themselves: you do not say hello to people you half know, you pretend to look at your phone in the elevator, you dread speaking in public.

社牛 is the joke opposite, a made-up “condition” of having no social fear. Its full name is a mock diagnosis built on 社交恐惧症, with a crude slang word for “awesome” in place of 恐惧, “fear”. 社牛 keeps only 牛, “cow”, which is everyday slang for “awesome”.

How people use it

Both are everyday words now. Many people call themselves 社恐 when they are only a little shy. 社牛 can be praise, or a joke about someone with no sense of embarrassment. The moment a 社恐 fears most is 社死, “social death”.

琦琦

你猜我今天干了什么
nǐ cāi wǒ jīn tiān gàn le shén me
Guess what I did today.
什么？
shén me?
What?
我在咖啡店跟旁边的人聊了一个小时
wǒ zài kā fēi diàn gēn páng biān de rén liáo le yí gè xiǎo shí
I chatted with the person next to me at the café for an hour.
你认识他吗？
nǐ rèn shi tā ma?
Do you know him?
不认识啊
bú rèn shi a
Nope, never met him.
真社牛！换我早就跑了
zhēn shè niú! huàn wǒ zǎo jiù pǎo le
Total social butterfly! I’d have run off.

More examples

他在地铁上跟陌生人聊了一路，真是社牛。
tā zài dì tiě shang gēn mò shēng rén liáo le yí lù, zhēn shì shè niú.
He chatted with strangers the whole subway ride. Totally fearless.
我是社恐，打电话都紧张。
wǒ shì shè kǒng, dǎ diàn huà dōu jǐn zhāng.
I’m socially anxious. Even phone calls make me nervous.
社恐遇到社牛，只能尴尬地笑。
shè kǒng yù dào shè niú, zhǐ néng gān gà de xiào.
When the shy one meets the fearless one, all they can do is smile awkwardly.

Where it came from

社恐 is the older word, cut down from the medical term. The joke name for its opposite spread in 2021. The World of Chinese wrote about it in October 2021, quoting Weibo users who said a father who helps direct traffic in a jam, or an aunt who chats all day with strangers, must have caught it.

At the Tokyo Olympics that summer, fans called some outgoing Chinese athletes 社牛 for posing for photos and chatting with everyone. In December 2021, 语言文字周报 put the pair 社恐/社牛 on its list of the ten most popular internet phrases of the year.

The original. There is no single image. People tag stories and videos of bold strangers with 社牛. The World of Chinese explained the word in 2021. The World of Chinese