Archive for Language and advertising

Streeeeeetch

Packaging for a box of sweets that a friend brought to me from China a few days ago:

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Atomic Enema

Medical apparatus and preparation from Taiwan:


Source:  "Atomic Enema Gwoyeu Romatzyh", Pinyin News (8/17/22)

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"Beer is the most squeezed giraffe"

[This is a guest post by Nathan Hopson]

Today I bring you this cringey translation from the social networking app Line (developed in South Korea, very popular in Japan):

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Whole wheat partially

Package on a grocery store shelf:

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Chinese nationality

[This is a guest post by Bob Ramsey]


Eileen Gu is the face of at least 23 brands in China
She Made $31.4 Million in Endorsement Deals Last Year

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Will this magical shaker leave you shooketh?

Pictured here is a zhèn lóu shénqì 震楼神器 ("magical floor shaker"):

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Chicken hegemon

From Mark Swofford:

The back of a restaurant stand going up in front of the Banqiao train station as part of a temporary market for the Christmas season.

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Cantonese ad for teppan steak

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"Classic Female Poison Earplugs" — Ask Language Log

Image and query from Hans Oddvar Vannes:

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Vulgar village vernacular

This Chinese article is about a man who has made a living by painting slogans and ads on village walls for thirty years. Some of the slogans are rather bizarre, as may be seen by looking at the many photographs in the article.

The article says it is such a well-paying job that the man was able to buy 6 apartments in his hometown with his earnings. Painting on walls is one of the major ways to advertise or propagate goods and ideas in the countryside.

There are many examples of such signs in the article, but I couldn't understand all of them upon first glance, so I wondered if the country folk would be able to read the signs. I asked a number of my graduate students from China, and they all said, yes, the country folk not only would be able to read them, but would enjoy them and would be motivated to buy the products and services promoted by the signs.

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Burgeranch Israel in the Year of the Ox

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Kanji-esque alphabet writing on a sake label

From Frank Clements:


(source)

Can you read it?

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Lucky eating you

Sign at a shop in Changzhou, Jiangsu, specifically at the Computer City mall:

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