skr

What does skr mean?

skr is the written form of a tire screech, recruited by rappers as an all-purpose exclamation of excitement. In 2018 it escaped hip-hop fandom and stuck to everything: a song's hook, a last-second three-pointer, a friend's cooking. Modern usage treats it almost like an adjective, as in 太skr了 (“so awesome”), a compliment that carries more attitude than information. It says less about the thing being praised than about the mood of the person praising it.

Where does skr come from?

The syllable rode in with Chinese hip-hop fandom. Rapper 王琳凯 (Lil Ghost) sprinkled skr through his raps on 《偶像练习生》 in the spring of 2018, and 吴亦凡 made it a nightly catchphrase while judging 《中国新说唱》 that summer. Viewers parodied the word as fast as they adopted it. By December, 国家语言资源监测与研究中心 had certified it as one of the year's top ten internet expressions.

How to use skr

• 姐姐今天这段rap太skr了，我把视频看了十遍。
  Jiějie jīntiān zhè duàn rap tài skr le, wǒ bǎ shìpín kàn le shí biàn.
  Her rap verse today was so skr. I watched the clip ten times.
• 朋友随手做的麻辣香锅，我尝了一口只能喊skr。
  Péngyou suíshǒu zuò de málà xiāngguō, wǒ cháng le yì kǒu zhǐ néng hǎn skr.
  My friend threw together a spicy mala pot and one bite had me yelling skr.