Why Chinese use too many 错别字? What do you do when your Chinese friend say something that you don't know? You will ignore whatever that is, pretending you got it and move on. Most of the time, it's not even your fault that you can't understand it. I have this problem for so long. Chinese people love to use wrong words (错别字) to say something completely having different meaning. Recently, I finally understand what 卧槽 means. It means "Fuck"!!! I have also seen this word many time over the internet, but never look it up because there are just too many word wrong combinations that I don't get.

My question will be simply why? Why do Chinese use wrong words (错别字)? I know 操 is a censored word, but many times, Chinese will use wrong word choice on purpose even when it's not censored, such as 小盆友，菜鸟，and etc.
The cases you mentioned is more or less like slang. If there is a urban dictionary it would be in there. Some of them are evanescent though. There are several cases I could think why they use those characters.


Funny accent: some people pronounce some words with their cute accent from their dialect. One day these thing gets viral, and popular. like 卧槽，蓝瘦香菇, etc.
Internet sensation: for example, 小白 means beginner, 你是个好人 means sorry I can't say yes to your proposal.


So these words are more common in younger generations I wouldn't say they are wrong. If you use them with old people they would possibly not understand. Also, sometimes we understand them by the context.

I think similar things are in English as well. Like you say Netflix and chill for sex. Sis, bro, bae... too many.

Understand those gets you more comfortable in getting into Chinese contemporary culture for instance if you live in China.