带飞

What does 带飞 mean?

求带飞 is three characters meaning “please carry me,” and it is one of the most common sentences typed into a Chinese game lobby, usually seconds after a visibly good player joins the room. 带 is to bring along, 飞 is to fly; the image is of victory lifting the whole team off the ground whether or not they earned it. The word crossed into offices and classrooms without friction because the situation is identical: one person's output raises everybody's number. A colleague who makes the team's quarter look good 带飞全组. A tutor whose students all pass 带飞全班. Asking to be carried carries no shame in this register. It is a cheerful admission that you will do your bit and leave the flying to the 大神.

Where does 带飞 come from?

带飞 belongs to the mobile-gaming boom of 2018 and 2019, and specifically to 王者荣耀, where climbing ranks was frequently a social activity: one strong player dragging two or three friends up the ladder behind them. 带妹上分, carrying a girl up the ranks, grew into an economy of its own, with skilled players advertising the service and strangers pairing off in lobbies. 求带飞 was simply the opening line of that negotiation. When the same players entered the workforce a few years later they brought the vocabulary with them, which is why a Chinese office can now describe a quarterly report as something one person 带飞'd on behalf of everyone else.

How to use 带飞

• 大神求带飞，我辅助贼稳。
  Dàshén qiú dàifēi, wǒ fǔzhù zéi wěn.
  Oh great one, please carry me — my support play is rock solid.
• 有她在，我们组就被带飞了。
  Yǒu tā zài, wǒmen zǔ jiù bèi dàifēi le.
  With her on the team, our whole group gets carried.