我和小伙伴们都惊呆了

What does 我和小伙伴们都惊呆了 mean?

小伙伴们 is warm and slightly childish for a group of friends, and 惊呆了 describes being struck dumb rather than politely surprised. The sentence needs both halves, because the joke is plural: you are never shocked alone, an invisible row of friends freezes with you. Through 2013 it was the all-purpose reaction to odd news, price jumps and plot twists, usually pasted next to an image of cartoon animals with enormous eyes. Later, language watchdogs tried to banish it on grounds of taste, which only sent it further.

Where does 我和小伙伴们都惊呆了 come from?

June 2013: a screenshot said to come from a pupil's composition, ending in this sentence, was shared across 微博 and within days was printed on t-shirts. Even the argument that followed over its authenticity could not slow it down. By December it headlined lists of the year's phrases, and the decision by the language journal 《咬文嚼字》 to keep the 小伙伴 wording out of its official ranking turned into a controversy of its own.

How to use 我和小伙伴们都惊呆了

• 食堂今天居然有小龙虾，我和小伙伴们都惊呆了。
  Shítáng jīntiān jūrán yǒu xiǎolóngxiā, wǒ hé xiǎohuǒbànmen dōu jīngdāi le.
  The canteen served crawfish today. Me and my little buddies were all stunned.
• 看完价格标签，我和小伙伴们都惊呆了，一杯奶茶三十八。
  Kànwán jiàgé biāoqiān, wǒ hé xiǎohuǒbànmen dōu jīngdāi le, yī bēi nǎichá sānshíbā.
  Then we saw the tag: thirty-eight for one milk tea. Stunned, all of us.