A traffic police officer directs the traffic in Mohe City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Dec. 29, 2019. Ice fog may appear when the temperature in Mohe, the "north pole" of China, plummets below minus 40 degrees Celsius in the morning of winter season. In order to ensure the safety of citizens' travel, Mohe traffic police have to work outdoors in extremely cold weather during the morning rush hour every day. (Xinhua/Qi Hongxin)

"Grandma's legs" are the first buzz of 2020, after a motorist from East China's Anhui Province used the curse words in a post to his followers on WeChat to complain about getting a traffic ticket, and was then detained, sparking a wave of controversy on social media. 

"Grandma's legs! Parking just ten minutes as I picked up my son costs me a hundred yuan ($14.50)," the middle-aged motorist on Friday wrote in a social media post that included a photo of a traffic ticket, after he was ticketed by local police for illegal parking. 

"Grandma's Legs" are used in some parts of China as curse words and in some other places as an innocent stock phrase.     

The next day, the man was summoned by local police and given administrative detention, for an unreported number of days. It's also not been reported if the man has yet been released. 

According to reports, the man was detained for "abusing traffic police in public and causing a bad influence." However, that explanation created more controversy with many netizens saying the man was only venting his dissatisfaction rather than abusing specific officers, as "he did not say whose grandma's leg, he was referring to." 

"It's too harsh and it is like abuse of power, the man's dirty talk is just a complaint, which should be tolerated," said a netizen whose comments received many thumbs-up. Other netizens wondered how police managed to read his comment that was posted to only his followers on WeChat. 

The trending topics of "Grandma's Legs" have received more than 77 million views on Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of press time. Some net users have claimed the curse words as the first buzzwords of 2020.

It's not known if the man was abusive to traffic police at the scene, or if someone in his WeChat group forwarded his comments to police.  

Local police in Bozhou in Anhui, announced on Weibo on Monday, that an investigation is being conducted by the local discipline inspection authorities and legal authorities. If any improper law enforcement is found, the public security authorities will correct the mistakes and will not shield their faults. The results of the investigation have not yet been released. 

Chinese law states that whoever publicly insults police who are performing their duties shall be punished and may be detained for between five and 10 days, and fined up to 500 yuan.

Global Times