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circle jerk

  1. (vulgar, slang) Any group or group activity indulging in excessive mutual praise.

When I try to translate this term in this context, I come up with 互相吹捧 and 互相奉承 (mutual flattering). It gets closer if I reduce 互相吹捧 to 互捧. But it doesn't contain any vulgarness or even derogatory sense like the English original does.

Question: Is there a counterpart in Chinese that matches this particular vulgar slang?

My impression is it is unlikely because excessively praising each other is not considered unseemly behavior in Chinese culture in general

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  • Metaphorically, you can consider 互舔, which is apparently a vulgar term.
    – dan
    Dec 9, 2020 at 22:21
  • 互吹, 互捧, 相互抬轿, 相互拍马屁
    – Victor
    Jan 17, 2021 at 1:46
  • 相互吹噓 - a tasteless act (vulgar).
    – r13
    Jul 12, 2021 at 16:49

5 Answers 5

1

Depending on the context and situation you can consider some of these:

自嗨

Douban

因为难以忍受这种circle-jerk话题的自嗨臭屁。


I originally wrote this as a joke but I think it's quite apt:

互相捧场,共同成长(cháng)

I won't explain it here though.

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  • I'll add more later.
    – Mou某
    Dec 9, 2020 at 11:03
  • 自嗨 is a particularly good choice because it almost graphically describes the #1 definition of 'circle jerk-- (vulgar, slang) A group of males masturbating ("jerking off") together (with or without interpersonal contact). I have a mental image of these guys doing what makes them happy
    – Tang Ho
    Dec 9, 2020 at 19:06
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Depending on your audience and degree of formality, I would offer a more graphic expression that originates in Cantonese "互相擦鞋" - shining each other's shoes.

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I would suggest 商业互吹/互捧臭脚 as popular and vulgar substitutes for 互相吹捧. These two words are trending slangs recently in Chinese online communities describing the phenomenon "circle jerk".

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My impression is it is unlikely because excessively praising each other is not considered unseemly behavior in Chinese culture in general

I forgot a fact that even 互相吹捧 or 互相奉承 is not considered unseemly, the term 奉承 does contain derogatory sense. There is slang for 奉承, and it is 拍馬屁 (flatter; kiss ass, brown nose), which is somewhat a derogatory term, therefore, 互拍馬屁 or 互相拍馬 would match 'circle jerk' quite closely.

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  • 互相吹捧 can be briefed as 互捧.
    – dan
    Dec 9, 2020 at 23:47
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互戴高帽:(literal:) put a tall hat in each other's head

戴高帽 means to praise, often to the level of flattering.

So 互戴高帽 means to flatter each other.

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