“囧” and found lulz

Although I find the symbol-based written Chinese language to be a headache and a half at times, ie. all the time, I'm finding that as my proficiency goes up, my appreciation of it does as well. This is one example。

囧

You're reading that entirely correctly. That is, in fact, a word in the Chinese language. Pronounced "jiong3", the word originally referred to a form of plant. But as the internets have evolved, so has language (or devolved, take your pick), as the word is now akin to "something that causes one to facepalm, Picard-style." That's my definition, at least.

As an emoticon, word, and now cultural phenomenon, 囧 is full of win.

There's a website called "A Jiong A Day." As you might've guessed, it's all in Chinese, but if you can understand it, it's actually pretty fuckin' hilarious.

Also, in my attempt to claim-jump Engrish.com's well-treaded ground, I took a snapshot of a sign in the campus' Chaoshifa market. I don't know if it qualifies as found lulz, but for the sake of convenience, I henceforth declare found lulz as anything that is unintentionally funny.


As far as negative stereotypes go, you guys aren't exactly helping. And by negative stereotypes, I'm obviously referring to lack of English spot-checking.

Oh me.