<blockquote>
<p>我可活什么劲</p>
</blockquote>
<p>劲 here means <strong>interest, fun, meaningful, etc</strong>. E.g. 真没劲！// having no fun.</p>
<p>可 put an emphasis on a rhetorical question. E.g. 我可怎么活啊。meaning <em>how could I live.</em></p>
<p>The one YouDao gives &quot;What am I living for&quot; is the closest translation. It's saying &quot;There isn't any interesting things in my life, so it's meaningless for me to live.&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T02:04:32.923Z
2022-08-07T02:04:32.923Z
dan
<p>&quot;我可活什么劲&quot; must be a local style of speaking,  which usually contains words/phrases with implications, and is only understandable to people that are familar with the local language. Based on the storyline, it can be expanded as:</p>
<ul>
<li>我的腿都不能動了還可以活成什麼**劲(樣)**呢? - My legs are paralyzed, and what kind of life I can live? (positively or negatively)?</li>
</ul>
<p>Here, 什麼劲 = 什麼樣, and with the hidden question: &quot;which/what kind of life - 有劲的(積極的 - positively) or 沒劲的(消沉的 - negatively)?&quot;.</p>
<p>Note: 劲 - 力; 有劲 = 有力(度), which often taken positively mean 有意思(滋味); 沒劲 is the opposite of 有劲.</p>
<p>Have fun with Chinese local languages.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-08T00:52:45.497Z
2022-08-08T00:52:45.497Z
r13
<p>He lost the use of his legs,<br />
我的腿瘫痪后</p>
<p>so he's asking,</p>
<p>我可活什么劲！<br />
What is the purpose of my existence?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T02:22:49.270Z
2022-08-07T02:22:49.270Z
Pedroski
<p>It means I'm too bored to live or I don't want to live anymore</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T09:23:57.583Z
2022-08-15T09:22:12.383Z
2022-08-15T09:22:12.383Z
Cool
<blockquote>
<p>双腿瘫痪后，我的脾气变得暴怒无常。望着望着天上北归的雁阵，我会突然把面前的玻璃砸碎；听着听着李谷一甜美的歌声，我会猛地把手边的东西摔向四周的墙壁。母亲就悄悄地躲出去，在我看不见的地方偷偷地听着我的动静。当一切恢复沉寂，她又悄悄地进来，眼边红红的，看着我。“听说北海的花儿都开了，我推着你去走走。”她总是这么说。母亲喜欢花，可自从我的腿瘫痪后，她侍弄的那些花都死了。“不，我不去！”我狠命地捶打这两条可恨的腿，喊着，“<strong>我可活什么劲</strong>！”母亲扑过来抓住我的手，忍住哭声说：“咱娘儿俩在一块儿，好好儿活，好好儿活……”<br />
<sub><a href="https://www.163.com/dy/article/G0G9SBK20521E65Q.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">秋天的怀念</a>，史铁生</sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm confused about how I should interpret 我可活什么劲 above.  The author is depressed about becoming paralyzed, and exclaims something like &quot;how can I live like this&quot;.  <a href="https://translate.google.cn/?sl=auto&amp;tl=en&amp;text=%E6%88%91%E5%8F%AF%E6%B4%BB%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%8A%B2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Translate</a> gives  &quot;How can I live&quot;, and <a href="https://youdao.com/result?word=%E6%88%91%E5%8F%AF%E6%B4%BB%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%8A%B2&amp;lang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">YouDao</a> gives &quot;What am I living for&quot;.  It seems like 活……劲（儿） is a kind of idiomatic structure, and I'm not sure how to break it apart and understand it.  In particular, <a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E5%8A%B2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">劲</a> = &quot;strength / energy / enthusiasm / spirit / mood / expression / interest&quot; doesn't seem to have a relevant meaning.</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: How should I understand 我可活什么劲?</p>

<meaning><phrase>
How should I understand 我可活什么劲?
# How should I understand 我可活什么劲?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-07)

> 双腿瘫痪后，我的脾气变得暴怒无常。望着望着天上北归的雁阵，我会突然把面前的玻璃砸碎；听着听着李谷一甜美的歌声，我会猛地把手边的东西摔向四周的墙壁。母亲就悄悄地躲出去，在我看不见的地方偷偷地听着我的动静。当一切恢复沉寂，她又悄悄地进来，眼边红红的，看着我。“听说北海的花儿都开了，我推着你去走走。”她总是这么说。母亲喜欢花，可自从我的腿瘫痪后，她侍弄的那些花都死了。“不，我不去！”我狠命地捶打这两条可恨的腿，喊着，“**我可活什么劲**！”母亲扑过来抓住我的手，忍住哭声说：“咱娘儿俩在一块儿，好好儿活，好好儿活……”  
> [秋天的怀念](https://www.163.com/dy/article/G0G9SBK20521E65Q.html)，史铁生

I'm confused about how I should interpret 我可活什么劲 above. The author is depressed about becoming paralyzed, and exclaims something like "how can I live like this". [Google Translate](https://translate.google.cn/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=%E6%88%91%E5%8F%AF%E6%B4%BB%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%8A%B2) gives "How can I live", and [YouDao](https://youdao.com/result?word=%E6%88%91%E5%8F%AF%E6%B4%BB%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%8A%B2&lang=en) gives "What am I living for". It seems like 活……劲（儿） is a kind of idiomatic structure, and I'm not sure how to break it apart and understand it. In particular, [劲](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E5%8A%B2) = "strength / energy / enthusiasm / spirit / mood / expression / interest" doesn't seem to have a relevant meaning.

**Question**: How should I understand 我可活什么劲?

**Tags:** meaning, phrase


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-08-07. Score: 4

> 我可活什么劲

劲 here means **interest, fun, meaningful, etc**. E.g. 真没劲！// having no fun.

可 put an emphasis on a rhetorical question. E.g. 我可怎么活啊。meaning *how could I live.*

The one YouDao gives "What am I living for" is the closest translation. It's saying "There isn't any interesting things in my life, so it's meaningless for me to live."


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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-08-08. Score: 1

"我可活什么劲" must be a local style of speaking, which usually contains words/phrases with implications, and is only understandable to people that are familar with the local language. Based on the storyline, it can be expanded as:

* 我的腿都不能動了還可以活成什麼\*\*劲(樣)\*\*呢? - My legs are paralyzed, and what kind of life I can live? (positively or negatively)?

Here, 什麼劲 = 什麼樣, and with the hidden question: "which/what kind of life - 有劲的(積極的 - positively) or 沒劲的(消沉的 - negatively)?".

Note: 劲 - 力; 有劲 = 有力(度), which often taken positively mean 有意思(滋味); 沒劲 is the opposite of 有劲.

Have fun with Chinese local languages.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2022-08-07. Score: 0

He lost the use of his legs,  
我的腿瘫痪后

so he's asking,

我可活什么劲！  
What is the purpose of my existence?


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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-08-07. Score: 0

It means I'm too bored to live or I don't want to live anymore


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