"Hold", a primary school vocabulary word, became buzzword among Chinese netizens in 2011 after Xie Yilin, a 21-year-old drama major in Taiwan, popularized it during her debut performance on the well-known TV variety show "University."

With her heavy makeup, theatrical gestures and mixed Mandarin and English dialogue, Xie played a hilarious character called Miss Lin who taught college students how to behave like fashion queens at parties or even on the bus. "Don't worry. The situation is under control. I can hold it," the character announced repeatedly for all kinds of impossible or embarrassing occasions. A video clip of the show got 1 million hits within 11 days after it was put on the Youtube, and Xie Yilin has been acknowledged as "Sister Hold" ever since.

The word has soon gained huge popularity among the public and even celebrities. Former Super Girl He Jie, who was moved to tears upon signing a record deal, said self-mockingly later on her microblog "Sorry for not able to hold it." Likewise, before attending an awards ceremony, Singaporean Mandopop singer-songwriter JJ Lin joked "Always make sure to be snapped with a decent pose. I can hold the situation."

Before long the word has been used everywhere, from sales promotion ads to wanted postings on police microblogs. Some net users say the popularity of the word shows people's admiration for an attitude of staying calm and confident in stressful or embarrassing situations.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao January 5, 2012)

Hold本來(lái)是小學(xué)水平的英語(yǔ)詞匯。自從21歲的臺(tái)灣表演專業(yè)學(xué)生謝依霖在人氣綜藝節(jié)目《大學(xué)生了沒(méi)》中一炮而紅，hold也隨之成為2011年中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)上最熱門(mén)的英文單詞。

在節(jié)目中，謝依霖扮演了一名叫做Miss Lin的搞笑角色。她以夸張的容妝、做作的舉止和中英文夾雜的講話方式，為大學(xué)生們示范如何在派對(duì)或公車(chē)上成為時(shí)尚女王。面對(duì)各種匪夷所思或?qū)擂蔚木车兀琈iss Lin不斷強(qiáng)調(diào)：“不要慌。整個(gè)場(chǎng)面我hold住。”節(jié)目的視頻發(fā)布在youtube上，短短11天內(nèi)點(diǎn)擊量突破百萬(wàn)。謝依霖也被網(wǎng)友們封為“Hold住姐”。

“Hold住”很快受到了大眾乃至明星們的熱捧。往屆超級(jí)女聲何潔在一次簽約會(huì)上感動(dòng)落淚，之后在微博上自嘲：“對(duì)不起對(duì)不起，怪我沒(méi)hold住。”新加坡創(chuàng)作型歌手林俊杰也在出席頒獎(jiǎng)禮之前開(kāi)玩笑道：“被拍也要被拍得很得體！場(chǎng)面要hold住。”

從各類促銷廣告到公安局官方微博上發(fā)布的通緝令，“hold住”簡(jiǎn)直無(wú)處不在。一些網(wǎng)友認(rèn)為，這個(gè)詞的流行顯示了現(xiàn)代人對(duì)一種良好心態(tài)的贊賞，即在沉重的壓力或?qū)擂尉车叵乱材鼙３宙?zhèn)定自信。