重要的事情说三遍

What does 重要的事情说三遍 mean?

Often the sentence itself is printed three times in a row, which turns a normal announcement into a small performance: 明天放假 明天放假 明天放假，重要的事情说三遍. Sometimes the tag is used honestly, when a post really is easy to miss; more often it is pure rhythm, a drumroll before the punchline. A counter-version, 不重要的事情说三遍, mocks the habit by repeating something completely trivial.

Where does 重要的事情说三遍 come from?

The phrase rose through Weibo and WeChat during 2015, carried by its own self-demonstrating format: to use it, you repeat yourself, and the repetition is the joke. The outlet Jiemian News counted it among the year's hottest web words, and a Sina News piece dated 2016-05-31 later looked back at how lines like this ended up on year-end tallies of internet slang. Attempts to trace it to a single source text have never produced a document everyone accepts, so it remains a true product of the feed.

How to use 重要的事情说三遍

• 明天八点停水，明天八点停水，明天八点停水，重要的事情说三遍。
  Míngtiān bā diǎn tíngshuǐ, míngtiān bā diǎn tíngshuǐ, míngtiān bā diǎn tíngshuǐ, zhòngyào de shìqing shuō sān biàn.
  Water is cut at eight tomorrow. Water is cut at eight tomorrow. Water is cut at eight tomorrow. Important things get said three times.
• 「方案我再强调一次：这周五交。」「你都说三遍了。」「重要的事情说三遍。」
  “Fāng'àn wǒ zài qiángdiào yī cì: zhè zhōuwǔ jiāo.” “Nǐ dōu shuō sān biàn le.” “Zhòngyào de shìqing shuō sān biàn.”
  “One more time on the draft: hand it in Friday.” “You've said it three times already.” “Important things get said three times.”