Why is 坑爹 such a popular word, and what exactly does it mean? Yes, it has to do with swindling; cheating. But why? What is the imagery or story behind this word, 坑爹?
坑-爹,literally, means 'to trap your father'. As a slang, it means 'to deceive someone'. Thus, if you speak, "这个手机很坑爹 'this phone very 坑爹'", that means 'this phone is of low quality'. It is very possible that you could have been deceived by a seller or producer. By so speaking, you treat the producer (liar) of this low-quality phone as your son, then you turn to become its father. In normal usage, the sex is in fact irrelevant even if 爹'father' canonically should be male. 爹 here can refer to any one who suffer from being deceived. As a result, 坑-爹 implies a cursing attitude towards someone. After all, to play someone's father implies to dominate or control it. No one likes to have extra fathers except for that physiologic father. So, 坑爹 should be cautiously used. Of note, this inference has become very weak.