嘴替zuǐ tì

Mouth double

nǐ jiù shì wǒ de zuǐ tì!你就是我的嘴替！You said it for me!

嘴替 is a “mouth double”: someone who says what you think but could not put into words, or did not dare to say. When a comment says it perfectly, people reply that the writer is their 嘴替.

Took off: 2022
Started in: Social media
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

嘴 is “mouth” and 替 is “substitute”, so 嘴替 is a substitute for your mouth. It is praise: you call someone your 嘴替 when you agree with them and they said it with more wit or nerve than you have. The longer form is 互联网嘴替, “internet mouth double”.

How people use it

It is still common in comments. A comedian, a blogger or a friend in the group chat can be your 嘴替. The same Digitaling article warned that a quick line is not the same as thinking: 嘴替不是脑替, “a mouth double is not a brain double”.

琦琦

有个博主说：周一是人类的敌人
yǒu gè bó zhǔ shuō: zhōu yī shì rén lèi de dí rén
A blogger said: Monday is the enemy of humankind.
说得太对了！
shuō de tài duì le!
So true!
他就是我的嘴替
tā jiù shì wǒ de zuǐ tì
He says exactly what I think.
我已经关注他了
wǒ yǐ jīng guān zhù tā le
I already followed him.

More examples

这条评论说出了我想说的话，你就是我的嘴替！
zhè tiáo píng lùn shuō chū le wǒ xiǎng shuō de huà, nǐ jiù shì wǒ de zuǐ tì!
This comment says exactly what I wanted to say. You said it for me!
我不敢跟老板说，还好同事是我的嘴替。
wǒ bù gǎn gēn lǎo bǎn shuō, hái hǎo tóng shì shì wǒ de zuǐ tì.
I didn’t dare tell the boss. Luckily my coworker said it for me.

Where it came from

No first use has been found. The word spread on social media in 2022. In August 2022 Digitaling, a marketing site, called it a new word and the most popular online persona of the moment, and noted that a hashtag calling an actress someone’s “internet 嘴替”, after a frank answer in an interview, had reached the trending list.

In December 2022, 语言文字周报 put 嘴替 seventh on its list of the ten most popular internet phrases of the year. Sixth Tone included “online mouth double” in its own list of 2022 slang.

The original. There is no single image. People reply to a sharp comment or video with 嘴替, or tag the creator as their 互联网嘴替. Digitaling wrote about the trend in 2022. Digitaling (in Chinese)