废话文学
fèi huà wén xué
'Nonsense literature' / 'empty-talk literature' — a style of online writing built from statements that are grammatically perfect and confident in tone but completely empty of information, looping back on themselves or stating the obvious as if revealing a deep truth.
Origin
废话文学 surged in 2021, spreading through video comment sections on Bilibili and Weibo as one of a recurring cycle of short-lived '网络文体' (internet writing styles). The '-文学' suffix works like '-ism' or '-core' to name a genre, and once 废话文学 caught on the construction became wildly productive (凡尔赛文学, 发疯文学, 孔乙己文学, etc.).
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What does 废话文学 mean? The complete guide — origin, usage, related slang, and cultural context.
Examples
听君一席话，如听一席话。 ('Hearing you speak is just like hearing you speak.') — a parody of the real idiom 听君一席话，胜读十年书.
Respond to a question with a tautology: "How was the movie?" → "It was very much a movie."
Related terms
哈基米
hā jī mǐ
A phonetic, essentially meaningless meme sound ('Hajimi') that can mean a cat (especially a cute orange one), cuteness or playful chaos, an all-purpose nonsense exclamation, or genuinely nothing — its power being that it doesn't insist on a meaning.
YYDS (永远的神)
yǒng yuǎn de shén
GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Used to praise someone or something as the absolute best.
真香
zhēn xiāng
Smells good / So good — used when someone ends up loving something they previously said they'd never do.
高情商
gāo qíng shāng
High EQ — being tactful, diplomatic, or knowing exactly the right thing to say.