屌丝 - is there an equivalent in English?

[tooironic]

As the topic says.

I'm genuinely curious because it seems like such a broad term.

[gato]

Do you have any suggestions?

"屌" means penis, by the way, so it's probably not easy to find an English equivalent that would carry the same tone.

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%8C%E4%B8%9D

屌丝一词在网上被广泛使用以后，其使用和含义变得更加宽泛，使用者不一定专指以搬砖等为职业的青年男性群体，而成了无女友或收入不高的男青年的自嘲用语。对女性有时候也会使用该词，称为女屌丝。

[tooironic]

How about "slacker"? My Oxford defines it as "a young person (esp. in the 1990s) of a subculture characterized by apathy and aimlessness."

Or even "no-hoper"? Defined as "a person who is not expected to be successful."

That Chinese Wikipedia article suggests: loser，deadbeat，bum/freeloader，leech，parasite，goldrick [sic. should be "goldbrick" I guess]，sponge

[heifeng]

I would sum the person up as a good-for-nothing since it's from the perspective of their inability to really to reach a certain level of 'usefulness or success'. Also a person can describe themselves as a loser or good for nothing as well.

And of course if you want to up the vulgarity level you can always build on it with 'piece of &hit' -good for nothing or other interesting modifiers

[gato]

But note that this word is used by guys ironically to refer themselves ("自嘲用语"), i.e., it's not necessarily a pejorative. 韩寒, for example, called himself a "屌丝". (That probably explains the use of "屌".)

"Slacker" might work in that regard, but not most of the other suggestions. You wouldn't ironically call yourself a "leech", for instance.

[imron]

Not an exact equivalent, but derp could work in some instances.

[xiaocai]

Just like there is no real Chinese equivalent for nerd.

[tooironic]

@imron What's derp? I checked on Wiktionary but there is no noun sense there.

@xiaocai Nerd's not too bad. 宅男 comes pretty close. I think "square" (a person considered to be old-fashioned or boringly conventional in attitude or behaviour) is harder to translate.

[imron]

Like 屌丝 it's a word that's gained popularity mostly on the Internet.

You can use derp (or variations of it) basically as a filler whenever you need a word anywhere (noun, verb, adjective, whatever), but in the context of a person, it's maybe someone who is a bit clueless/stupid. It can also be used to refer to yourself in a self-deprecating manner.

Sometimes a picture says a thousand words.

Like I said, it's nothing like an exact translation, but it has some of the attributes of 屌丝, which make it possibly suitable as a translation in some situations.

Edit: see also definition 7 on Urban Dictionary

[Outofin]

屌丝 = loser

屌丝 is those who have little, who are left behind the economic development. But it's not a totally bitter word, more like making fun of someone.

[gato]

Yeah, "loser" should work. Beck had a song called "Loser", which can be translated as "屌丝". It has a line that goes "我是个屌丝，宝贝。你把我杀了吧。“

[tooironic]

Thank you Outofin and gato, I think "loser" is a pretty good translation and near-equivalent.

[count_zero]

"Underprivileged loser" was, I believe, the first widely accepted translation. There's an element of social disadvantage to the term that doesn't really exist in western societies. A guy from a small town in a poor province who now washes dishes in Beijing for 1,500RMB a month would be a diaosi. He's extremely unfashionable, not well educated and absolutely can't get a girlfriend but it's not really his fault.

Imron's right that diaosi is popular enough now to be used to mean almost anything: a mobile phone that doesn't work properly, a woman who is dressed in a really crazy way, some guys doing a goofy dance in an internet video. But still some situations call to mind the word quicker than others - a young male who spends all his free time on the internet playing games and masturbating is pretty much the paradigm.

[imron]

Imron's right that diaosi is popular enough now to be used to mean almost anything:

I was actually referring to the word 'derp' when I said that. I've updated my post for clarity.

a young male who spends all his free time on the internet playing games and masturbating is pretty much the paradigm.

What a derp.

[gato]

I think the popularity of the word is probably due to the ability to use 屌 openly. It's as if "cock-something'" caught on as a popular and publicly acceptable word in the English world.

It should be noted again this word is used most often ironically and not necessarily pejoratively.

"Underprivileged" probably is not right. This word was invented and made popular by Chinese Internet users who post in forums and blogs, who are middle class for the most part. The divide is between billionaires and the rest rather than middle class vs the migrant workers.

That's why 韩寒 could refer to himself as a 屌丝 and not be completely ridiculed. You could translated it as his calling himself a "loser", a "slacker", a "bum", but adding "underprivileged" to it would be going too far.

The term is often used as a contrast to "高富帅" and "白富美", btw.

[count_zero]

I would say:

diaosi, noun; sometimes adjective

1. loser

2. goofy

3. sub par or willfully unattractive

[Hofmann]

My best idea is "loser," although one needs a bit of "wanker" to complete the picture.

[rob07]

What about softcock?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Softcock

[roddy]

Waster? But if you're trying to find one equivalent for slang, you need a target argot, not just a target language.

[IrisLu]

@tooironic

I think "square" (a person considered to be old-fashioned or boringly conventional in attitude or behaviour) is harder to translate.

How about 老古板 for this?