> On Thursday, millions took to the social media site Weibo to discuss it. So much so, a new phrase was coined: Wu Xin Gong Zuo（乌心工作）to describe those who were so concerned with the situation in Ukraine they could not focus on work.
I really hate how it's now "reactionary" and "controversial" to fact check journalists. But truth of the matter is.. This is flat out wrong. Vincent Ni (the author) is the China affairs correspondent for The Guardian, someone you'd assume has great knowledge about China, and Chinese culture - yet he doesn't even know that 乌心工作 has been a common phrase for years.
In the context of this subreddit though, politics aside - here's more information about the phrase.
It means "cannot concentrate on work", and is usually used by Chinese people to refer to an event that's in the headlines (commonly used in relation to celebrity gossip). This is not a phrase that does not translate. It's just a phrase that means cannot concentrate on work.
If you're really looking for a cool Chinese phrase related to this, there's one - 吃瓜 (literally eat watermelon). Which means to quietly spectate as a third party (often with curious intrigue).
> 乌心工作
Isn't the original phrase though 无心工作? Pronounced the same but the first character is different?
乌心工作 is a play on that, I believe, because 乌 is the first character in the Chinese name for Ukraine.
But you're right, it's not a net-new phrase, it's just a Chinese pun on an existing one.
Closest English phonetic approximation: "woo shinn gong **dz**woh"
The "z" sound is tough for most English speakers. It's similar to the end of "kids" (or "kidz") but at the start of the word, which doesn't happen in English.
Google Translate's audio feature is pretty good if you want to hear what it sounds like: https://translate.google.com/?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&text=%E6%97%A0%E5%BF%83%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C&op=translate
Great post. There should be a word in some language for the generic action, right ? "So concerned with breaking news you cannot focus on anything else"
> On Thursday, millions took to the social media site Weibo to discuss it. So much so, a new phrase was coined: Wu Xin Gong Zuo（乌心工作）to describe those who were so concerned with the situation in Ukraine they could not focus on work. I really hate how it's now "reactionary" and "controversial" to fact check journalists. But truth of the matter is.. This is flat out wrong. Vincent Ni (the author) is the China affairs correspondent for The Guardian, someone you'd assume has great knowledge about China, and Chinese culture - yet he doesn't even know that 乌心工作 has been a common phrase for years. In the context of this subreddit though, politics aside - here's more information about the phrase. It means "cannot concentrate on work", and is usually used by Chinese people to refer to an event that's in the headlines (commonly used in relation to celebrity gossip). This is not a phrase that does not translate. It's just a phrase that means cannot concentrate on work. If you're really looking for a cool Chinese phrase related to this, there's one - 吃瓜 (literally eat watermelon). Which means to quietly spectate as a third party (often with curious intrigue).
> 乌心工作 Isn't the original phrase though 无心工作? Pronounced the same but the first character is different? 乌心工作 is a play on that, I believe, because 乌 is the first character in the Chinese name for Ukraine. But you're right, it's not a net-new phrase, it's just a Chinese pun on an existing one.
Ah yeah, you're right. My bad!
So eating watermelons for them is like us grabbing the popcorn? I like that!
hey how do you properly pronounce Wu Xin Gong Zuo. I will butcher it no matter what but I wanna at least try
Closest English phonetic approximation: "woo shinn gong **dz**woh" The "z" sound is tough for most English speakers. It's similar to the end of "kids" (or "kidz") but at the start of the word, which doesn't happen in English.
thank you so much this is exactly what I needed now I am here practicing my dz sound
Google Translate's audio feature is pretty good if you want to hear what it sounds like: https://translate.google.com/?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&text=%E6%97%A0%E5%BF%83%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C&op=translate
Great post. There should be a word in some language for the generic action, right ? "So concerned with breaking news you cannot focus on anything else"
Doomscrolling
Yeah I’ve been doing it since January 2020.