127 Take Care
“Keep your weight!”
Jesse and ShaoLan talk about an unusual Chinese phrase which is used to show care for the person you are speaking to. In the same way that in Chinese culture, asking someone if they have had a meal shows concern for their health and well-being, telling someone to keep up their weight is a way of telling them to ‘take care’! ShaoLan explains that this phrase can be used when addressing someone who is poorly as a way of saying ‘take care’ and ‘get well soon’, but can equally be used as a phrase to a friend who is perfectly healthy and you simply want to say ‘stay healthy’ or ‘take care’.
The word 保 (bǎo) means to care for or to protect, 重 (zhòng) means heavy or ‘weight’ so 保重 means to protect or keep your weight!
