"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本來是小學水平的英語詞匯。自從21歲的臺灣表演專業學生謝依霖在人氣綜藝節目《大學生了沒》中一炮而紅，hold也隨之成為2011年中國網絡上最熱門的英文單詞。

在節目中，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，為大學生們示范如何在派對或公車上成為時尚女王。面對各種匪夷所思或尷尬的境地，Miss Lin不斷強調：“不要慌。整個場面我hold住。”節目的視頻發布在youtube上，短短11天內點擊量突破百萬。謝依霖也被網友們封為“Hold住姐”。

“Hold住”很快受到了大眾乃至明星們的熱捧。往屆超級女聲何潔在一次簽約會上感動落淚，之后在微博上自嘲：“對不起對不起，怪我沒hold住。”新加坡創作型歌手林俊杰也在出席頒獎禮之前開玩笑道：“被拍也要被拍得很得體！場面要hold住。”

從各類促銷廣告到公安局官方微博上發布的通緝令，“hold住”簡直無處不在。一些網友認為，這個詞的流行顯示了現代人對一種良好心態的贊賞，即在沉重的壓力或尷尬境地下也能保持鎮定自信。