What’s up with John Cena saying “Bing Chilling”?
Bing Chilling is a phrase born from John Cena's earnest attempt at saying "ice cream" in Chinese. Now, it's become so much more than that. As the meme has spread, the phrase has come to be used as a neutral response to any basic question.
What does Bing Chilling mean?
Bing Chilling is a meme phrase that comes, believe it or not, from a video of John Cena speaking Chinese and eating ice cream. It's the phonetic pronunciation of 冰淇淋.
Cena begins speaking Mandarin and tries to pronounce 冰淇淋 (bīng qílín). The word means "ice cream" in Chinese, but it was Cena's pronunciation in his song about ice cream that caught viewers' attention.
Bing Chilling song lyrics
The video, shot in 2021 and shared on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, was created to promote Fast & Furious 9.
These are the lyrics John Cena sings in this video, as translated from Mandarin. The humorous song is supposed to be a fun and quick promotion for Fast & Furious 9, in which Cena was part of the cast.
He begins the video by saying, "Good morning, China. Now I have ice cream. I like ice cream very much, but Fast & Furious 9 is better than ice cream."
Then, Cena begins to sing.
After two whole weeks
The Fast & Furious 9
After two whole weeks
The Fast & Furious 9
He wraps up the video by saying, "Don't forget. Don't miss it. Go to the cinema.
What's up with John Cena saying "Bing Chilling?"
Each time he says the word, the pronunciation of "Bing Chilling" sticks out from the rest of what he says.
The decision to have John Cena speak in Mandarin wasn't a random one. Cena is fluent in Mandarin, as you can see if you pay attention to his accent while he speaks. Native speakers posted jokes about the video, but others were impressed by the attempt.
Once the video of Cena's "Bing Chilling" pronunciation went viral, people began tagging the actor in their own plays on the moment. While Cena has never officially reacted, many believed this 2022 video of him buying an ice cream cone, pausing to look piercingly at the camera, was a quiet nod to the phenomenon.
How do people use the term?
These days, there are many ice cream posts dedicated to Bing Chilling. The term has also evolved to become a neutral response to just about any situation, making the phrase a casual but nondescript answer.
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- The psychosis of Virgil, a wrestling icon turned lonely meme
- Vince McMahon memes are an emotional rollercoaster
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