hold住

What does hold住 mean?

The particle 住 marks an action carried all the way through, so hold住 means holding the line and coming out of it looking composed. The phrase escaped from Taiwan's variety shows and mainland campuses adopted it within weeks as the verb for surviving chaos: hold住 an all-nighter, hold住 a blind date, hold住 the last five minutes of a presentation while the projector dies. Part verb, part dare, always communal. Friends use it to remind you that everyone is watching and that breaking character is not an option. Its antonym 没hold住 is the confession that you cracked.

Where does hold住 come from?

August 2011: 谢依霖, a university student from Taiwan, went on the variety show 《大学生了没》 playing a socialite who claims she can hold住 any situation, and her mugging clips raced across the internet. She became a star as Hold住姐. In December 新浪 ran a feature calling Hold住 one of the year's signature phrases, and awards season followed before she moved into film, with roles in the 《小时代》 series.

How to use hold住

• 明天答辩，PPT还没做完，今晚必须hold住。
  Míngtiān dábiàn, PPT hái méi zuòwán, jīnwǎn bìxū hold zhù.
  Defense tomorrow, slides unfinished. Tonight I hold it together, no exceptions.
• 她踩到裙摆差点摔倒，硬是hold住了，全场没看出来。
  Tā cǎi dào qúnbǎi chàdiǎn shuāidǎo, yìng shì hold zhù le, quánchǎng méi kàn chūlái.
  She caught her heel on the hem and still held it together; nobody in the hall noticed.