狗带

What does 狗带 mean?

The characters are a red herring: this word lives entirely in its sound. Pronounced gǒu dài, it sounds like an accented Chinese attempt at the English phrase go die, and that is the whole joke. You reach for it when a situation defeats you: impossible deadlines, endless revisions, a losing streak in ranked games. The standard form is 我选择狗带, I choose 狗带, which works like a theatrical sigh rather than any real despair. Because the literal characters mean a dog and a belt, the phrase lets people voice frustration without sounding genuinely grim. A coworker who has just heard one more round of feedback may also reach for 我也是醉了, which plays a similar note with less theatrical energy.

Where does 狗带 come from?

It entered the language in 2015 through the rapper 黄子韬, formerly of the K-pop group EXO. A line from one of his raps, 我不会就这样轻易地 go die, became a punchline: listeners heard the English go die and wrote it down by sound as 狗带. Parody videos and singing memes multiplied the joke until year-end roundups that December were listing the word among the year's catchphrases, with one headline scolding readers who still did not know it (Sohu, 2015-12-25).

How to use 狗带

• 改稿改到第五版，甲方说还是第一版好，我选择狗带。
  Gǎi gǎo gǎi dào dì wǔ bǎn, jiǎfāng shuō háishì dì yī bǎn hǎo, wǒ xuǎnzé gǒu dài.
  Fifth round of edits in, the client says the first draft was best. I choose 狗带.
• 排位连输八把，全队默默在聊天框打出了“狗带”。
  Páiwèi lián shū bā bǎ, quánduì mòmò zài liáotiān kuàng dǎ chū le “gǒu dài”.
  Eight ranked losses in a row. The whole squad quietly typed 狗带 into the chat.