娇嗔 - A uniquely Chinese practice?

[David Wong]

Well, seeing as tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd get folks' opinions on 娇嗔.

What the heck is 娇嗔? My dictionary defines it as "grumble in a flirtatious manner".

baidu explains it this way:

解释： 假装地生气,样子妩媚,令人怜爱。指年轻女子

What do you think about it? Does it exist in any other culture? Is it something one needs to be proficient at in order to claim "native-level fluency"? Haha, the last question is meant as a joke. Sort of.

[kari]

MDBG says - 娇嗔 "to protest coquettishly / to pout playfully"

Broken down further:

娇 jiāo​ - seductive and loveable; tender

嗔 chēn - be angry at, scold, rebuke

I've actually not heard of this, but I'm guessing that's when a woman or girl acts "angrily cute?" Feigning anger in a cute way?

EDIT:

I see this in Taiwanese culture a lot.

[jbradfor]

Aren't you married? And you haven't experienced it? No, seriously?

Is it something one needs to be proficient at in order to claim "native-level fluency"?

Don't worry, you aren't expected to do it. Just respond appropriately.

[scoff]

I came to post jbradfor's answer, but he beat me to it. Definitely not a uniquely Chinese practice.

[David Wong]

@jbradfor, I can't remember if I've ever seen my wife do it. Maybe we've been married too long. Or maybe she's not doing it right? She's not proficient in Chinese either.

[Ludens]

I had never heard of the phrase, but I do immediately recognize it from Chinese culture, mainly from media as I'm not in China myself. I don't see this nearly as much in Europe.

[icebear]

It's more blatant in Chinese, but it's definitely noticeable in Western culture.

[tooironic]

I would also like to know if this term is common.

And how it compares to the notorious 撒娇.

[panpan86]

And how it compares to the notorious 撒娇.

So, I just asked my Chinese colleague about the difference between 撒娇 and 娇嗔. Here's our MSN log:

Peter 说:

娇嗔和撒娇 有什么出别

区别

莎 说:

嗔本身就有说话的意思

Peter 说:

哦

莎 说:

娇嗔一般是形容女生假装生气的样子

Peter 说:

卖萌的那种

莎 说:

两种都是卖萌

但是娇嗔是生气的卖萌

没有真的生气

但是装样子

Peter 说:

撒娇 也有点生气吧

莎 说:

没有

孩子对母亲撒娇，女生对男生撒娇

可能是有想要的东西，或者想要求什么事情

Peter 说:

嗯

莎 说:

当然，也可能是让对方不要生气，可以撒娇

Peter 说:

所以，2个区别： 1.撒娇不一定要说话，但是娇嗔要说话

2.娇嗔表达生气

莎 说:

我觉得第一条归结的有点问题

不是要说话的问题

比如，说一个句子

“。。。。。”她娇嗔。

要是用撒娇的话

“。。。。。”她冲母亲撒娇的说道。

Peter 说:

嗯，我明白

莎 说:

嗔的这个意思，不明显的，因为我们也可以说 “。。。”她娇嗔道

主要还是第二个意思

So, in summary: 1. 娇嗔 suggests anger while 撒娇 less so and

2. 嗔 emphasizes the fact that speaking is involved, like in the example above ^_^

[Peter2010]

I feel 撒娇 is negatively/neutrolly connotated, while 娇嗔 is positively connotated.

娇嗔 and 可爱 (cute) are often used together.

[creamyhorror]

It's a common concept, I'd say.

打情骂俏

tsundere (Japan)

[maxdmind]

娇嗔=撒娇+嗔怪

嗔怪 means 强烈的非难　对别人的言语或行动表示不满意。 嗔怪现在多用在女性对爱人或曾经的爱人的一种责怪，略带一点撒娇的成分在其中.

[wedge]

Very helpful discussion. I think both 撒娇 and 娇嗔 are common in the US but even more common in China.

[David Wong]

I think what would be really helpful is some video evidence. Hopefully from both cultures? Haha.

[马盖云]

Recent article in "the World of Chinese" magazine about this... I just saw a link on twitter, and found this...

http://www.theworldo...er-tantrum-101/

[David Wong]

Thanks 马盖云。 Interesting. I'm a little puzzled by some of the examples though. For instance, "Flash to a couple’s bedroom. “I’m sooo hungry,” the wife giggles menacingly. ". How does one giggle menacingly? I can't picture it. 哈哈。

[jbradfor]

My take on that was "if you expect to sleep here tonight, bring me noodles."

I read that bubble-example from top-to-bottom, missing the (very tiny) numbers at first. It made no sense. Reading it the correct order, it still didn't make a lot of sense.

[David Wong]

I'm starting to be not so crazy about the aspect of using it to manipulate one's partner into performing a chore. I initially had the impression that it serves only to entice or to attract. Perhaps the lure is just a means to an end? Gee, it's not looking as good as I once thought.

Edited to add:

BTW, this all came about when I asked what '哼’ meant and I was told that '哼‘ is what one utters when doing the 娇嗔 thang. I think the context was something like '哼！你都不理我！'

[gato]

Funny comments. This is just what little girls do with their daddies to get their way, and not usually a deliberate plan to be enticing. It's a test of your affection. A lot of girls haven't grown up and are looking for a daddy figure. It happens more with girls who are the only child, which is almost everybody from the cities born in the 1980s or later.

[wutwut]

^ But from what I see from Korean dramas and hear from my Korean friends, this happens in Korea too. Before entering this thread I mostly thought people find it cute, and people see other people do it (on TV, atleast) and so they also do it. Do you have any facts backing up that these girls are looking for a daddy figure?