他呢？还原地趴窝呢
“and he's still stuck where he is.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
你再看看现在 你一路升到副队长
“Now look at things. You've been promoted to deputy captain,”
他 呢 ？ 还 原地趴窝 呢
“and he's still stuck where he is.”
听说他和他老婆还…
“I heard he and his wife…”
“You're a rising star, while he's a total failure who hasn't moved an inch.”
Workplace gossip in China frequently fixates on peers who entered at the same rank; one who gets promoted rapidly is praised, while one who remains behind ('趴窝') becomes an object of pity or scorn.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
stuck in place / completely stalled out
Originally referring to broken-down machinery or nesting birds, colloquially used to mock someone whose career or life is completely stalled.
Marks a contrastive rhetorical question in the first clause, and underlines an ongoing stagnant state in the second.
