Rare moments where Chinglish strays into genius
- Source: Global Times
- [21:21 January 28 2010]
- Comments
A and C are Chinglish. B and D are Joyce.
In that spirit I offer the Bob Dylan or Chinglish? quiz. Dylan is due to bestow his Bobness upon Beijing on April 4, so this is good practice for understanding his lyrics.
A: With 100 eyes of 100 Hamlets, the mountain crawls under the paintbrush of 100 artists. B: His hindbrain hit by electricity as he orders four treasures. C: The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face. D: With his businesslike anger and his bloodhounds that kneel, if he needs a third eye he just grows it.
A and B are Chinglish. C and D are Dylan.
Sometimes Chinglish becomes near-poetry, or perhaps inspiration for a children's book. "Now the Changsha Zoo is selling tiger's whispers which raises citizens' curiosity.
Some Chinese characters written with chalk on a blackboard in the zoo says, "There are some tiger's whispers for sale, and 'specially for drivers and children.'"
The writer meant "tiger whiskers" but I think tiger whispers is infinitely better, even sublime – specially for drivers and children.
I’ll take two boxes, please.
The author is a copy editor at the Global Times. globaltimesopinion@yahoo.com
