Earlier I said one rarely sees graffiti here, and it's generally true. But I saw a couple of examples this morning when we went for a walk. One was painted over --paint is one way to deal with grafitti. But a second occurrence was more puzzling. Opposite a university gate, a place of high visibility, was some work in colorful spray paint. It was done artistically, and probably by more than one person on more than one day. I thought it was a mural at first. Then, I noted that carefully embedded in its center was the English word SHIT. The artists would have known what it meant. But did they understand its connotation? Given the prudery of Chinese society, I wondered why no one removed it-- to evidence China's new openness, perhaps? Or was the anti-graffiti crew on vacation?
English is often displayed in curious ways here. The other day, a very polite young lady came to her Olympic training in a shirt with this statement:
What makes me special...?
Orgasm
Orgasm
Orgasm
I would be very surprised if that same student wore a shirt with that slogan in Chinese. English is viewed as different and exotic here, and using our language, the young people say things they cannot say in their own.
3 comments:
Pro. Rosalind, how are U doing ?Do U still remember the city of Weihai ,Shan Dong province?
I'm leo, Xavier'S brother.we met one year ago ,now I'm in Nigeria,west africa. Are U in Beijing now? Xavier is also in Beijing ,maybe you can meet each other.
As for the matter you metioned above , it is not occasional。 We all know that many words have not only one meaning ,but unfortunately most of us only get the popular meaning of it and there is one more thing, the explanation is given by Chinese language .
Take this "orgasm" for example, the dictionary writes like this:"极度兴奋" ，that means A similar point of intensity of emotional excitement,PAY ATTENTION, it never mention anything related sex. If she knows that means sextual excitement, she will not buy the T-shirt unless she is lunatic.
Such kind of ridiculous things happen because we do not have enough surroundings to experience the certain meaning of English.
my email:leo8326@126.com
Roz, at least let us know when you and Joe arrive back to JC.
Hi Leo,
Great to hear from you! I will be sending an email.
Roz
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