Most people in the area are unemployed and not have a bean to spend.
這地方的很多人都失業待崗,沒錢花。
但是,由于中國的購物促銷太火爆,外媒也逐漸理解了“吃土”的含義,eat/live on dirt/soil。如:BBC就有如下的報道:
Alibaba said more than $1bn was spent within the first eight minutes, and more than 27 million purchases came via mobile phone in the first hour. This is good news for sellers but not that good for shoppers. Soon after the shopping spree began, "eating dirt" became a buzzword on the Internet. The term means that consumers spend too much on Singles Day shopping to have any money left for food; as a result, they can only "eat dirt", which is free.