Kengdie/ Kēngdiē / 坑爹 adj. deceptive, swindling, being a scam or a con
A. When I was booking the hotel, it said “this price does not include lunch or dinner.” So I assumed that it included breakfast.
B. Did it?
A. Nope. It was so kengdie.
B. Indeed.
The world is full of con artists. In China, beautifully executed scams often inspire more respect and awe than condemnation – after all, a scam is a battle of wits. Kengdie is what you say when you realize you have just lost the battle.
Keng means ‘to scam’ and die means ‘father.’ Literally meaning “you have just conned your father,” kengdie gives you one last chance to belittle whoever just conned you by calling him your son. It’s a kind of after-the-fact trash talking, a way to blow off some steam, a now-futile attempt to regain some points.
Kengdie becomes handy when you spend thousands of yuan on a pair of adidas Yeezy sneakers only to realize they are fake; when the pet hamsters you order online turn out to be rats; when the iPhone you buy turns out to be a brick; when the language-exchange partner you meet on Tinder shows up with bodyguards and demands payment… Let’s just say that kengdie is a very useful word.
An alternative interpretation of kengdie is that the scam is so clever it would have fooled your father, let alone you. It conveys a kind of respect for how clever the scam is – so clever that the scammers almost deserve the loot.
Kengdie can also be used to accuse someone of trying to scam you. “Your offer is too kengdie,” means you are not happy with the offer on the table. “This price is too kengdie,” is useful when bargaining at the silk market. Sometimes calling kengdie preemptively is the best way to not say kengdie later.
Scams abound in China – and everywhere, frankly – from the cradle to the grave. From the day you are born, you face kengdie baby formula, kengdie nannies and kengdie toys. When you grow up, you face kengdie schools, apartments, cars and bosses. In the end you still have to deal with kengdie hospitals, retirement schemes, pension plans and graveyard plots. Kengdie is a reality of life. The sooner you get used to it, the better you will fare. Good luck now.
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