The event has a lot of vocabulary related to clairvoyance sessions and Natlan lore, but I also learnt a lot of interesting words and expressions through Ororon and Citlali interactions. Here are some of them.

Ororon about Citlali:

是的，你们知道，奶奶是个天才，天才总会堵住别人的路，让别人绝望。

Yes, you know, Granny is a genius, and geniuses will always block others’ path and lead them to despair.

The word 绝望 juéwàng means “give up all hope”, “despair”.

He also calls her a 拦路虎 lánlùhǔ (lit. a road-blocking tiger) “obstacle”, “hindrance”. (that’s why there’s a discussion about using a lot of metaphors, I don’t know how they translated this one in English…)

Later we hear a sarcastic Citlali ask him: 翅膀硬了啊？

翅膀硬了 chìbǎng yìngle (lit. wings have become strong) means “grown up enough to live an independent life”.

And she adds, “do you think that you can 无法无天 just because you’ve become one of the six heroes?”

无法无天 wúfǎ wútiān (lit. no laws, no heaven): defy laws human and divine, absolutely lawless, run wild.

Citlali calls Ororon “臭小子”.

臭 chòu: smelly, foul, stinking, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome…
As for 小子 it either means “boy” or is a pejorative term for “guy”, “fellow”. It also has an out-dated meaning which is a term of adress used by seniors to juniors.

Used together, 臭小子 is a derogatory term mainly used by elders towards boys or young men. It sounds quite harsh to me, but then I’m not native. I saw someone compare it to クソガキ.

Citlali is then embarrassed that we saw her being 凶巴巴 xiōngbābā (tough, grumpy, harsh).

Later, Ororon tries to smooth her by flattering her, but she says it’s no use to 拍马屁.

拍马屁 pāi mǎpì: (lit. to pat a horse’s buttocks) to flatter, lick sb’s boots.

#NatlanChineseStudy