# Guess the Chinglish translation for this toy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202 "2024-02-06T20:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/1 "2024-02-06T20:04:09Z")
My daughter received this toy as a gift. It’s a craft toy where you push little bits of material through slits in the dresses of cardboard cut out dolls to give a 3D effect. It’s called ‘DIY Versatile Facelift’. Can anyone hazard a guess to what the original name of this might have been? For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/oVX6Z5y.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/oVX6Z5y) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/sJL0oIC.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/sJL0oIC) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/2 "2024-02-06T20:06:46Z")
I think “makeover” rather than “facelift.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/3 "2024-02-06T20:17:17Z")
[This toy on AliExpress](https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005005735705154.html) is listed in English in Google Search Results as “8PCS Cute Cartoon Cotton Doll Facelift Sticker”. (The page itself is in Spanish and nowhere does it mention “facelift” or “makeover”). The purpose of the toy is similar to what you’ve got there - changing clothes and accessories on a static paper doll (except with stickers). I agree it probably means “makeover” and possibly the closest translation you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/4 "2024-02-06T20:23:01Z")
Thank you, both! That does make sense. That’s the mental link I just couldn’t make. Facelift as in (extreme) makeover! 🙏🏻 OB ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/5 "2024-02-06T21:07:27Z")
That is funny. Is there a classic toy like that, maybe something like a book where you cut the parts out with scissors? I remember some sort of things like that when I was kid. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/6 "2024-02-06T21:49:52Z")
Oh sure, paper dolls have always been a thing. In the 80s we all had [Fashion Plates](https://toytales.ca/fashion-plates-from-tomy-1978/) ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/7 "2024-02-07T14:53:00Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > That is funny. Is there a classic toy like that, maybe something like a book where you cut the parts out with scissors? I remember some sort of things like that when I was kid. Paper dolls! I loved paper dolls when I was a kid (60s-70s). Most of them had tabs that you would fold over the shoulders of the cardboard doll. I had some that had magnets on the back of the clothes and the dolls were thicker with some sort of metal thing inside of them. I also had some that were the worst! You were supposed to rub the clothes on the doll and the static was SUPPOSED to hold the clothes on. They were a big fail. I still remember they were the _Family Affair_ kids - Sissy, Buffy & Jody. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/8 "2024-02-07T15:11:22Z")
Paper dolls go back a long time. They were popular in France as far back as the mid 18th century. [Paper doll - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_doll#History) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/9 "2024-02-07T15:23:07Z")
Best guess is that it’s _zengrong_, a word with vague meaning - plastic surgery, face lift, etc. - still, though, a strange term to use to describe a toy doll that you make changes in clothing to, since this is about attire and costume, not about physical surgery of the toy body itself. Even in the original Chinese it would have been a bad choice of wording. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-chinglish-translation-for-this-toy/997202/10 "2024-02-07T15:43:57Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Oh sure, paper dolls have always been a thing. In the 80s we all had [Fashion Plates](https://toytales.ca/fashion-plates-from-tomy-1978/) > [@TRC4941](#): > > Paper dolls! I loved paper dolls when I was a kid (60s-70s). I was thinking of something I never had but saw somewhere. There were animals you cut from a page and then another page with a foresty scene and slits cut in the paper to stick the animal characters through, like a squirrel up in a tree and a frog in a pond. Don’t know what it might have been called.