In today's buzzword mix, our buzzword is Nepo baby.

It sounds really cute because it has the word baby in it. But it's not really about cute babies.

First of all, let us take a look at the word Nepo.

我們今天的buzzword里面有一個可能大家不是特別熟悉的詞叫nepotism.

Nepotism你去查的話, 它指的就是任人唯親的裙帶關系, 也就是說用親屬關系這種關系網給你謀取各種福利；

比如說你爸當官, 然后你就可以進一個體系或者進一個公司, 這個就是典型的nepotism.

01 What is 'nepo baby'？

Nepo baby now is generally being translated into星二代, because it's usually used to describe the happenings in show business. 因為最早這個詞是從演藝圈出來的.

Nepo baby, short for nepotism baby, is a term referring to celebrities whose parents have succeeded in the same careers.

說的就是我們意義上的星二代, 也就是說你現在是在演藝圈的明星, 是因為你爸或者你媽或者你爸你媽都是大明星, 因此你有這樣的資源.

The implication is that because their parents already had connections to an industry. The child was able to use those connections to build a career in that industry.

這個地方的connection就很像中文里說的 “關系”, 他們的父母用自己的關系網鋪平了他們的明星之路.

Of course because nepotism is a sign of corruption, so it's not really a good word.

Nepo baby is often used in a critical or derogatory manner to highlight perceived unfair advantages or the lack of equal opportunities for those who do not have influential family connections.

中文里的星二代可能是一個中性詞, 看你怎么看, 但英文里的nepo baby一般來說是一個critical or derogatory term, 它一般來說是個比較貶義或者比較批判性的詞;

因為它強調的是這里面是有unfair advantage, 因為你爸媽是明星, 所以你一出生抽到了上上簽, 你就有unfair advantage, 同時也批判了同樣可能草根出身的人, 有才但是沒有equal opportunities.

It often indicates that the celebrities fame and success are perceived as unearned or undeserved.

通常被叫做星二代, 這里面就有一個暗藏的意思, 就說你是個Nepo baby, 所以你今天得來的一切都是你爹媽的connection所換來的, 而不是你自己的本事.

所以whatever you received, fame and success is unearned and undeserved. 不是你自己用才華賺來的, 所以也不是你應得的.

The term gained popularity in discussions surrounding nepotism and privilege within industries where family ties can play a significant role in career advancement.

為什么我們直接把它翻譯成星二代?

因為最早是從演藝圈出來的, 因為show business在國內也一樣, 它跟很多別的行業相比, 它是一個更吃資源的行業.

跟nepotism一起經常被提到的就是privilege特權.

02 The origin of the term

The term “nepotism baby” was first popularized in the early 2010s, after decades of being used and was first shortened to “nepo baby” in 2020.

In 2022, the term “nepo baby” started to trend on Twitter and TikTok as users pointed out numerous other celebrity nepo babies.

Nepo baby這個詞在社媒上火起來了, 然后就引得一堆人去發這個視頻發帖, 去追溯西方演藝圈里面到底哪些人是nepo baby.

The term gained further popularity after New York magazine published a list of Nepal babies and called 2022 The Year of the Nepo Baby.

當然后來New York magazine他們是直接就是來了一期專輯, 專門做Nepo baby星二代的大起底, because some of these nepo babies people didn't realize their identity.

You might just think of someone as a famous singer, songwriter, actor, actress, but they turn out to be nepo babies.

So that special report in 2022, they explored which celebrities were nepo babies, how they got famous and the schools they went to.

People who use this term, they often claim that nepo babies as well as those who came from wealth in general are over represented in media when compared to those of working class or otherwise normal backgrounds.

喜歡用星二代這個詞去批判這些星二代的人, 其實他們說的不僅僅是星二代, 還包括所有這些people who came from wealth.

咱們國內不是有很多什么二代什么二代, 是說這些二代們有了太多的資源, 從一出生就站在一個不一樣的起跑線;

而其他的有才華很努力的人, 因為沒有這樣子的privilege特權, 因此直接就輸在了起跑線上, 這就是一個明顯的社會上的不公.

Such examples are deemed proof by proponents that meritocracy does not exist and hard work alone is not enough to be successful.

這里有一個概念比較難理解叫做 meritocracy.

這個詞如果你去中文的網站查很多的時候查出來都是錯誤的, 它告訴你是什么精英主義, 其實不是.

Meritocracy這個詞是從merit來的, 什么叫做merit?

指的就是你自己的才華, 你的performance你的能力; meritocracy更像是中文的任人唯賢, 也就是說有能力的人應該獲得成功, 這個叫做meritocracy.

跟nepotism正好是不一樣, nepotism是誰有connection, 誰有privilege誰上.

其實酒館自己的中國故事的課程里面, 還有講到科舉的時候, 就說, 起碼科舉制度最開始出來的初衷就是這個meritocracy, 希望能夠選舉賢能之士, 而不是靠influential families.

好多人就說nepo baby其實就是專門打了meritocracy的臉, 證明了meritocracy does not exist. Hard work alone is not enough to be successful.

03 Nepo baby 衍生詞

根據Nepo baby這個詞, 其實還衍生了一些其他的詞, 比如說the same magazine also used to term “industry baby” to refer to a number of other celebrities.

那個雜志里面當時去起底星二代的時候還用到了industry baby, 這些人可能跟Nepo baby不太一樣, 他們只是說這個行業里面有一些connection,

比如說可能你父母并不是明星, 但是你父母可能是演藝圈里面的一些工作人員, 因此你也有比別人更多的機會去進入這樣的一個圈子.

Another related term is “double nepo baby”.

就是雙料的星二代, 也就是你的父親和母親都各自很有名.

They are also known as “the full nepo baby”, these kids, they are progeny of not one but two and sometimes more, sometimes you even have really famous grandparents that they are incredibly connected people.

Take Brooklyn Beckham, 比如貝克漢姆和貝嫂, their son, their daughters, they are basically double nepo baby.

And Brooklyn Beckham also married another nepo baby.

然后這些人的擇偶通常也會在圈子里面再找一個跟他們同樣的星二代或者富二代.

These double nepo babies, they are even more the target of these online criticism because they really had everything, they had the best chances of success in the world.

Sure many of them are talented, for example, Angelina Jolie has two famous parents and an Oscar, but should these double nepo babies mess up, this is also the first thing armchair critics point to.

不過話說回來，同樣是星二代，優秀的也大有人在吖~

Now let's move on to the sample sentence.

例句示范

Sample Sentence：

-Nowadays, many social media channels are obsessed with outing nepo babies.