To be all alone in the world – No-nonsense Chinese idioms
Continuing the no-nonsense memes series here is a new idiom that uses the Forever Alone meme to help you remember the meaning.
editors note – we’re gonna have to start doing some more positive and happy idioms, otherwise we’ll have to change the series name to ‘slit-wrist idioms’ 
Traditional
我孑然一身, 但從不感到孤獨Simplified
我孑然一身, 但从不感到孤独Pinyin
wǒ jiérányīshēn, dàn cóngbú gǎndào gūdúEnglish
I’m all alone, but I never feel lonely
Another depressing example –
Traditional
他又在受騙破財、孑然一身後，想燒炭尋死卻怎麼都死不了Simplified
他又在受骗破财、孑然一身后，想烧炭寻死却怎么都死不了Pinyin
tā yòu zài shòupiàn pòcái, jiérányīshēn hòu, xiǎng shāotàn xúnsǐ què zěnme dōu sǐbùliǎoEnglish
After once again being cheated and suffering financial losses, he was all alone in the world and wanted to burn coal* and commit suicide but was unsuccessful.
*burning coal in the house and inhaling the fumes is the most common method of suicide in Taiwan
There’ll be a new idiom next week and I promise it’ll be a more positive idiom!
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Chris
A Scottish computer graduate turned Mandarin addict, Chris (currently a level 67 Frost Mage) has been learning Chinese for the last 3 years while living a free spirit existence in Taiwan. When he’s not pondering over radicals and stroke order, he’s making character frequency lists for fun or illustrating his web comic Horse Dragon Fish.
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