"Hold", a primary school vocabulary word, became buzzword among Chinese netizens in 2011 after Xie Yilin, a 21-year-old drama major in Taiwan, popularized it during her debut performance on the well-known TV variety show "University."

With her heavy makeup, theatrical gestures and mixed Mandarin and English dialogue, Xie played a hilarious character called Miss Lin who taught college students how to behave like fashion queens at parties or even on the bus. "Don't worry. The situation is under control. I can hold it," the character announced repeatedly for all kinds of impossible or embarrassing occasions. A video clip of the show got 1 million hits within 11 days after it was put on the Youtube, and Xie Yilin has been acknowledged as "Sister Hold" ever since.

The word has soon gained huge popularity among the public and even celebrities. Former Super Girl He Jie, who was moved to tears upon signing a record deal, said self-mockingly later on her microblog "Sorry for not able to hold it." Likewise, before attending an awards ceremony, Singaporean Mandopop singer-songwriter JJ Lin joked "Always make sure to be snapped with a decent pose. I can hold the situation."

Before long the word has been used everywhere, from sales promotion ads to wanted postings on police microblogs. Some net users say the popularity of the word shows people's admiration for an attitude of staying calm and confident in stressful or embarrassing situations.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao January 5, 2012)

Hold本来是小学水平的英语词汇。自从21岁的台湾表演专业学生谢依霖在人气综艺节目《大学生了没》中一炮而红，hold也随之成为2011年中国网络上最热门的英文单词。

在节目中，谢依霖扮演了一名叫做Miss Lin的搞笑角色。她以夸张的容妆、做作的举止和中英文夹杂的讲话方式，为大学生们示范如何在派对或公车上成为时尚女王。面对各种匪夷所思或尴尬的境地，Miss Lin不断强调：“不要慌。整个场面我hold住。”节目的视频发布在youtube上，短短11天内点击量突破百万。谢依霖也被网友们封为“Hold住姐”。

“Hold住”很快受到了大众乃至明星们的热捧。往届超级女声何洁在一次签约会上感动落泪，之后在微博上自嘲：“对不起对不起，怪我没hold住。”新加坡创作型歌手林俊杰也在出席颁奖礼之前开玩笑道：“被拍也要被拍得很得体！场面要hold住。”

从各类促销广告到公安局官方微博上发布的通缉令，“hold住”简直无处不在。一些网友认为，这个词的流行显示了现代人对一种良好心态的赞赏，即在沉重的压力或尴尬境地下也能保持镇定自信。