也是醉了
What Does 也是醉了 Mean?
Literally 'also drunk from this' — expressing the dizzying bewilderment of encountering something so stupid, bizarre, or exasperating that you feel intoxicated by the absurdity. Emerging around 2013, not actual intoxication but cognitive dissonance so severe you can barely function. Used when news is ridiculous, when arguments are impossibly circular, or when reality defies comprehension.
Origin Story
'也是醉了' (I'm also drunk from this) proliferated on Tieba around 2013 as a metaphor for the specific cognitive state induced by exposure to internet absurdity. The phrase repurposed intoxication not as pleasure or impairment but as the only rational response to irrationality — when confronted with something so stupid, so bizarre, or so logically inverted that sobriety becomes untenable. The key word was '也' (also): the implication that the speaker, along with everyone else witnessing the absurdity, has been driven to this state collectively. The phrase gained traction during a period when Chinese social media was maturing into a constant stream of bizarre news, incomprehensible human behavior, and circular arguments — content that demanded a response vocabulary beyond simple anger or disagreement. 也是醉了 offered a third option: not engagement or dismissal, but the acknowledgment that what you're seeing has exceeded your capacity to process it rationally. The drunkenness metaphor also carried a subtle critique — being intoxicated by absurdity is a temporary state, implying that the speaker will eventually sober up and return to reason, even if the content that induced the state will not.
Cultural Context
也是醉了 emerged alongside China's social media explosion when bizarre news and absurd human behavior became constant content. The drunkenness metaphor perfectly captured the disorienting effect of constant exposure to internet chaos. It joined a family of Chinese internet expressions using physical states to describe mental reactions to absurdity. The term originated and spread primarily on Tieba (Baidu Post Bar).
Similar Expressions in English
Like 'I can't even,' 'this is too much,' 'I'm deceased,' or 'I give up on humanity.' The drunkenness metaphor for cognitive overwhelm is similar to the English 'mind blown' but with more resigned exhaustion.
How Is It Used?
Chinese Explanation (中文解释)
表示对某事感到无语、哭笑不得，如同被气得神志不清，是失望和无奈的夸张表达。