May You Have an Eggplant on the Horse!

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. May you have an eggplant on the horse!

This is indeed a weird New Year greeting. Well, it’s actually part of a series of trending CNY greetings this year, which all start with “马上” (mǎshàng) which literally means ‘on the horse’. This is the year of the horse, and if you’ve learnt a bit of Mandarin, you might have gotten the gist of the meaning.

Yup, “mǎshàng” means ‘right away’, and when we wish someone “mǎshàng XXX”, we mean to wish them to have something/ accomplish something right away.

Let’s have a look at these other adorable horses.

First we have “马上有钱” (mǎshàng yǒu qián)―
有 yǒu: to have
钱 qián: money
马上有钱 mǎshàng yǒu qián: to have money right away

Then we have “马上有对象” (mǎshàng yǒu duìxiàng)―
对象 duìxiàng: boyfriend/ girlfriend
马上有对象 mǎshàng yǒu duìxiàng: to have a boyfriend/ girlfriend right away

Next is “马上有车” (mǎshàng yǒu chē)―
车 chē: car
马上有车 mǎshàng yǒu chē: to have a car right away

And finally “马上放假” (mǎshàng fang jià)―
放假 fang jià: to have a holiday
马上放假 mǎshàng fang jià: to have a holiday right away

All these horses are wonderful, aren’t they? But probably not as awesome as the eggplant horse.

The first picture on top says “马上有一茄” (mǎshàng yǒu yì qié). “一茄” (yì qié) literally means one eggplant. It differs only in tone from “一切” (yíqiè) which means everything. So the whole phrase put together means, to have everything right way. (Beware of the tones of “yì qié” and “yíqiè”!)

To begin with, the term “mǎshàng” isn’t difficult to remember. Well, maybe the pronunciation might take some time, but you can easily recall it if you know both ‘horse’ and ‘on top of/above/on’. Now that we have these horses, it should be even easier! So, did you mǎshàng remember the term for right away?

Before I go, let me wish you 马年行大运 (mǎ nián xíng dà yùn: have wonderful luck in the year of the horse), 马上有一切 (mǎshàng yǒu yíqiè: have everything all at once)!

(Click here for more CNY expressions.)