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hear me out



http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?m=201411

Quote:

Punning banned in China November 29, 2014 @ 12:05 am· Filed by Victor Mair under Humor, Language and advertising When the first headline arrived stating that China was going to ban punning, I thought that it must be something from The Onion. But when more and more reports came pouring in, I said to myself, "No, this is China. They're really going to do it." Indeed, the latest directive from the Ministry of Truth (State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television [SAPPRFT]) shows that they are dead serious. Here are some of the reports that have come my way: "China bans wordplay in attempt at pun control" The Guardian (11/28/14) "Officials say casual alteration of idioms risks nothing less than ‘cultural and linguistic chaos’, despite their common usage" The Guardian article was picked up by Reddit, where the puns are running fast and furious. "Nowhere to Pun Amid China Crackdown" WSJ, China RealTime (11/28/14) "China Bans Puns; Citizens Left Dis-Oriented" Mediaite (11/28/14) Just what sort of puns was SAPPRFT decrying? Here are two of the most egregious offenders: Jìn shàn Jìn měi 晋善晋美 (lit., "Shanxi good Shanxi beautiful") was used in ads promoting tourism to Shanxi province. The slogan — translated as “Shanxi, a land of splendors” — was a pun on the Chinese saying, jìnshànjìnměi 尽善尽美 ("perfection"). kèbùrónghuǎn 刻不容緩 ("pressing; acutely urgent", lit., "acutely may not delay") was rewritten as kébùrónghuǎn 咳不容緩 ("coughing may not delay / linger") in an advertisement a for cough remedy.

Yes, yes, I know that they're almost definitely targeting this over political jokes (namely, the people doing the banning getting made fun of...even before the pun ban), but still









think about it





but as victor writes

Quote:

The Chinese government may think that, because they've outlawed guns, they'll also be able to outlaw puns. But they have another think coming, since the latter is one pleasure, and one powerful weapon, that the people are not likely to relinquish lightly.

oh well



a totalitarian state can dream

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