The Chinese dish of “lo mein” has spawned some “lo meintenance” (lo mein + low maintenance) puns. “ Lo Meintenance” was posted on the newsgroup rec.arts.movies.current-films on January 12, 2001. “You can just leave that Chinese food in the fridge. It’s very lo meintenance” was posted on Twitter on March 26, 2010.

“Did you guys know we’re opening a minimal effort Chinese restaurant?  It’s going to be lo meintenance” was posted on Twitter on June 19, 2011. “‘Does your Chinese restaurant require a lot of upkeep?’ ‘No, it’s pretty lo mein-tenance’” was posted on Twitter on April 24, 2017. “Upkeep of most Chinese restaurants is Lo Meintenance” was posted on Twitter on November 30, 2017.

“Why are Chinese restaurant owners the best renters?"/"Because they’re lo mein tenants” is a similar joke.


Wikipedia: Lo mein
Lo mein (simplified Chinese: 捞面; traditional Chinese: 撈麵/撈麪; Cantonese Yale: lou1 min6; pinyin: lāo miàn) is a Chinese dish with wheat flour noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons. It can also be eaten with just vegetables.

Traditionally this is a dry variation of wonton noodle soup. The soup is simply separated from the noodles and other ingredients, and served on the side.

Google Groups: rec.arts.movies.current-films
LOL: MovieJuice’s review of Crouching Tiger
Chris Brandon
1/12/01
(...)
Then he told me Lo Mein is short for Lo Meintenance, which is something I’d never have to worry about, whatever that means, and I said “thank you!”

Twitter
mf human fax‏
@maxhuffman
You can just leave that Chinese food in the fridge. It’s very lo meintenance.
7:26 PM - 26 Mar 2010

Twitter
Ian R Jacoby‏
@Laarks
Did you guys know we’re opening a minimal effort Chinese restaurant?  It’s going to be lo meintenance.
12:10 PM - 19 Jun 2011

Twitter
Therese E‏
@chockwit
An easygoing Chinese dinner is quite lo -meintenance.
6:35 AM - 2 Oct 2011

Twitter
Jacob Gabrielleson‏
@chwawagrrl8
Chinese food is lo meintenance
9:10 PM - 18 Aug 2012

Twitter
S.J. Hartsfield‏
@sjhartsfield
I think if I ever opened a Chinese restaurant, I’d call it Lo Meintenance.
12:40 PM - 23 Nov 2012

Twitter
Draffut‏
@zendweller
leonsbuddydave: Chinese restaurants are easy to run because they’re very lo mein-tenance http://tmblr.co/Z3YnaybC5K-d
9:21 AM - 7 Jan 2013

Twitter
Kufi Jaxon‏
@KufiJaxon
Be on the lookout for my Chinese food cookbook for easy-to-make meals: Lo Meintenance.
5:17 PM - 6 Dec 2013

Twitter
Sean Duffy‏
@seaneduffy
Car repair garage combined with Chinese restaurant - “Lo Meintenance”
9:41 AM - 17 Jan 2014

Twitter
Aryn Keen‏
@arynkeen
Do American men like Asian women because they’re lo meintenance?
11:15 AM - 4 Mar 2014

Twitter
Julie Frey‏
@juliemfrey
Would like to start a Chinese restaurant that’s v classy/casual called “Lo Meintenance.”
10:02 AM - 3 Mar 2015

Twitter
Ryan Barker‏
@MrRyanBarker
I don’t think it would be that difficult to run a Chinese restaurant. Seems pretty lo meintenance.
6:10 PM - 15 Aug 2015

Twitter
Julia Haplo (they)‏
@FickleFandoms
warning: bad pun ahead
“Does your Chinese restaurant require a lot of upkeep?”
“No, it’s pretty lo mein-tenance.”
12:17 PM - 24 Apr 2017

Twitter
James Martin‏
@Pundamentalism
Upkeep of most Chinese restaurants is Lo Meintenance.
11:42 AM - 30 Nov 2017