China: No Puns Allowed
SOURCE:
From online discussions to adverts, Chinese culture is full of puns. But the country’s print and broadcast watchdog has ruled that there is nothing funny about them.Seems the order would be impossible to enforce.
It has banned wordplay on the grounds that it breaches the law on standard spoken and written Chinese, makes promoting cultural heritage harder and may mislead the public – especially children.[…]
But the order from the State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television says: “Radio and television authorities at all levels must tighten up their regulations and crack down on the irregular and inaccurate use of the Chinese language, especially the misuse of idioms.”
Programmes and adverts should strictly comply with the standard spelling and use of characters, words, phrases and idioms – and avoid changing the characters, phrasing and meanings, the order said.
1 comment:
Ah, harkens back to when they tried to codify the Queen's English. They could try, but will fail. Between contact with foreign cultures, and the will to laugh and poke fun, there isn't a chance. I suppose they could impose capital punishment, but as corrupt as they are, that wouldn't work as most of the people involved with frivolity on the larger scale are the one's with the money to corrupt.
I can't remember how many women have tried to correct a pun I have told, not getting it until they were shamed by stepping in it. Communism, more and more, reminds me of women. I, personally, think the Chinese people have had about enough of it. Oh, they'll keep them on, in part by necessity. But they don't take them all that seriously, unless they have to, for the most part, anymore. Toothless hag.
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