Partially inspired by the hoopla about zhēteng 折腾, this is first in a new series (of at least one post) about words that are difficult to translate into English. Today's contestant:

shuǎlài 耍赖

(Click icons to look it up in different online dictionaries.)Can anyone give a better definition and preferably an example situation (not just a sentence) where this word would be appropriate? The sentence examples at Nciku aren't particularly helpful, especially not:

tā gǎn shuǎlài, wǒ gēn tā méi wán! 他敢耍赖，我跟他没完！

He dares to shuǎlài, I'm not going to play with him!

Ok, so we know it's one of those adjectival verbs, but what does it mean?!The example my student gave me today was:

S: You lend me a pen. Then you ask for it back and I say I never borrowed it. That's shuǎlài.Me: Ok, so it's like lying?S: No. It's bāoyì 褒义.Me: Oh really?

And then the "bú shì" bashing started as her classmates shouted that she was wrong and it's definitely biǎnyì 贬义. Immediately, the original student's genetic bargaining autopilot took over and she declared it zhōngxìng 中性.I'd love to start using shuǎlài 耍赖, but I don't dare until someone explains it better. Anyone?See also: