Dude! How to Be Forever Friends in Chinese?
Language is always evolving, and Mandarin Chinese is no exception. The past two years or so, more and more Chinese people are using the word “老铁 (lǎotiě).” Originally, “老铁 (lǎotiě)” was used as a word by a northeastern Chinese dialect. One example of how this word was created is the following:
Winter in northern China is cold, very, very cold, almost freezing. One day a group of naughty kids thought it would be fun to lick the frozen metal of a pole, sometimes iron. All the other kids knew that you risk hurting the tongue if you try to remove it. So one of the kids went up to the pole and started to breathe hot, warm breath onto it, to help save the others. Kids in northwestern China would call a friend who does this: “老铁 (lǎotiě)”, which literally means ‘old iron’.
Now people all across China use this word “老铁 (lǎotiě)” to refer to someone who is considered a “very close friend” to describe an “unbreakable” friendship/bond, or to mean a “bosom buddy” or more modernly in English “ride-or-die friend.” This word implies familiarity with the person, so much so that you can totally be yourself around them. The friendship is unbreakable. You know you will be forever friends.
Let’s break it down character by character to fully understand its meaning:
老 (Lǎo): old.
Here used as a prefix, so it doesn’t have as substantial as a meaning such as...
...for the FULL LESSON on “老 (lǎo) old”, YOU CAN READ ALONG WITH US HERE!
