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Grass Mud Horse 草泥馬 (草泥马)
cǎonímǎ · from Chinese
What is the Grass Mud Horse meme?
The Grass Mud Horse (草泥馬) is a Chinese internet meme whose name puns on a vulgar insult, used to mock censorship.
It emerged in 2009 as a mythical alpaca-like creature whose name sounds like a swear word. It became a symbol of Chinese netizens evading keyword filters with homophones, along with 河蟹 héxiè (river crab) for 和諧 héxié (harmony, a euphemism for censorship).
Examples
草泥馬 cǎonímǎ (grass mud horse, vulgar homophone); 河蟹 héxiè (river crab) for 和諧 héxié (harmonious, censored); 被和諧了 bèi héxié le (got censored)
Kungfucius says: When the filter blocks a word, the internet breeds an alpaca.