OK, guys, today we are going to learn another extremely popular new word, “ning ba”.
In traditional Chinese, these two words are never used together. No one knows when and where the new combination originated, but all of a sudden, everybody is using it.
“Ning” is a verb meaning tweak, twist, and wrench. “Ba” is a tonic word without specific meaning. “Ning ba” means your feeling, your relationship, your situation, and your life in general is like being twisted, which makes you feel awkward, weird, and uncomfortable.
The combination is an ajective. You could say “I feel so ning ba, working for that guy is ning ba, going out with her is ning ba, my life is so damn ning ba!” A lot of re-nowned writers such as Wang Shuo, are using the word in their books to describe the awkwardness of life.
Just imagine your body is a piece of cloth being twisted by both hands on both sides on opposite directions, like in the picture below.
You get the feeling.
OK, tomorrow we are going to have a little break checking out the Confucius Temple in Beijing. Stay tuned!
That is an interesting combination that I have never encountered before while living in China. When the time comes I can bust out that phrase and impress my Chinese friend with my colloquial Chinese.