Salty or Sweet? Your Guide to Mastering Sarcasm in Chinese

您 is probably the most emblematic word in the Beijing dialect besides the 儿话音 ér huàyīn. Having lived alongside emperors and their cohorts and families for centuries, it is only natural that Beijingers are perhaps more conscious of using reverential language when talking to elders or people above them in societal rank. Yet, Beijingers have also learned to twist 您 into a sarcastic utterance to label someone a clown. There are also several variations of 您 depending on the context, such as 小祖宗 xiǎo zǔzōng ("little ancestor," often used when talking to a naughty kid or teenager) or 您老 nín lǎo ("your elder," an alternative when you want to emphasize someone's older age).