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.

我们今天的buzzword里面有一个可能大家不是特别熟悉的词叫nepotism.

Nepotism你去查的话, 它指的就是任人唯亲的裙带关系, 也就是说用亲属关系这种关系网给你谋取各种福利；

比如说你爸当官, 然后你就可以进一个体系或者进一个公司, 这个就是典型的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. 因为最早这个词是从演艺圈出来的.

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

说的就是我们意义上的星二代, 也就是说你现在是在演艺圈的明星, 是因为你爸或者你妈或者你爸你妈都是大明星, 因此你有这样的资源.

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.

这个地方的connection就很像中文里说的 “关系”, 他们的父母用自己的关系网铺平了他们的明星之路.

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个中性词, 看你怎么看, 但英文里的nepo baby一般来说是一个critical or derogatory term, 它一般来说是个比较贬义或者比较批判性的词;

因为它强调的是这里面是有unfair advantage, 因为你爸妈是明星, 所以你一出生抽到了上上签, 你就有unfair advantage, 同时也批判了同样可能草根出身的人, 有才但是没有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, 这里面就有一个暗藏的意思, 就说你是个Nepo baby, 所以你今天得来的一切都是你爹妈的connection所换来的, 而不是你自己的本事.

所以whatever you received, fame and success is unearned and undeserved. 不是你自己用才华赚来的, 所以也不是你应得的.

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

为什么我们直接把它翻译成星二代?

因为最早是从演艺圈出来的, 因为show business在国内也一样, 它跟很多别的行业相比, 它是一个更吃资源的行业.

跟nepotism一起经常被提到的就是privilege特权.

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这个词在社媒上火起来了, 然后就引得一堆人去发这个视频发帖, 去追溯西方演艺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.

当然后来New York magazine他们是直接就是来了一期专辑, 专门做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.

喜欢用星二代这个词去批判这些星二代的人, 其实他们说的不仅仅是星二代, 还包括所有这些people who came from wealth.

咱们国内不是有很多什么二代什么二代, 是说这些二代们有了太多的资源, 从一出生就站在一个不一样的起跑线;

而其他的有才华很努力的人, 因为没有这样子的privilege特权, 因此直接就输在了起跑线上, 这就是一个明显的社会上的不公.

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

这里有一个概念比较难理解叫做 meritocracy.

这个词如果你去中文的网站查很多的时候查出来都是错误的, 它告诉你是什么精英主义, 其实不是.

Meritocracy这个词是从merit来的, 什么叫做merit?

指的就是你自己的才华, 你的performance你的能力; meritocracy更像是中文的任人唯贤, 也就是说有能力的人应该获得成功, 这个叫做meritocracy.

跟nepotism正好是不一样, nepotism是谁有connection, 谁有privilege谁上.

其实酒馆自己的中国故事的课程里面, 还有讲到科举的时候, 就说, 起码科举制度最开始出来的初衷就是这个meritocracy, 希望能够选举贤能之士, 而不是靠influential families.

好多人就说nepo baby其实就是专门打了meritocracy的脸, 证明了meritocracy does not exist. Hard work alone is not enough to be successful.

03 Nepo baby 衍生词

根据Nepo baby这个词, 其实还衍生了一些其他的词, 比如说the same magazine also used to term “industry baby” to refer to a number of other celebrities.

那个杂志里面当时去起底星二代的时候还用到了industry baby, 这些人可能跟Nepo baby不太一样, 他们只是说这个行业里面有一些connection,

比如说可能你父母并不是明星, 但是你父母可能是演艺圈里面的一些工作人员, 因此你也有比别人更多的机会去进入这样的一个圈子.

Another related term is “double nepo baby”.

就是双料的星二代, 也就是你的父亲和母亲都各自很有名.

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, 比如贝克汉姆和贝嫂, their son, their daughters, they are basically double nepo baby.

And Brooklyn Beckham also married another nepo baby.

然后这些人的择偶通常也会在圈子里面再找一个跟他们同样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.

不过话说回来，同样是星二代，优秀的也大有人在吖~

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.