坑爹

What does 坑爹 mean?

坑 is the verb for luring someone into a pit, and 爹 is dad, dragged in purely for escalation. 坑爹 is what you yell when the game promises loot and hands over junk, when the advertised half-price deal turns out to apply to nothing, when the trailer sold you a different film. It packs betrayal, irony and teeth-grinding into two syllables, and it is aimed at the seller, never at the person saying it. Games made it a lifestyle: players rate patches, servers and shop prices on a 坑爹 scale that never lies.

Where does 坑爹 come from?

The phrase hardened in 百度贴吧 during 2010, carried by gaming boards where players reviewed rip-off design and punishing mechanics. 坑人, plain old 坑 with 人 attached, had been northern dialect for getting taken advantage of for years; adding 爹 cranked the volume. That same winter, year-end media roundups put 坑爹 among the words that defined 2010, and it has not left the language since.

How to use 坑爹

• 抽了十发全是重复的，这卡池太坑爹了。
  Chōu le shí fā quán shì chóngfù de, zhè kǎchí tài kēngdiē le.
  Ten pulls, every single one a duplicate. This banner is a scam and my wallet is crying.
• 招牌写着第二杯半价，结账说活动昨天结束，坑爹呢。
  Zhāopai xiě zhe dì èr bēi bànjià, jiézhàng shuō huódòng zuótiān jiéshù, kēngdiē ne.
  The sign says second cup half price, the register says the promo ended yesterday. Excuse me?