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Last spring, when Shanghai was in the midst-of a harsh, months-long lockdown, so many people were thinking of running away from the city that they even developed a "RUN-ology" (rùnxué 潤學, i.e., how to escape and go abroad), where "RUN" is a Chinese pun for English "run".

Original meanings of Mandarin rùn 潤:

1. wet; moist
2. sleek
3. to moisten; to wet
4. to polish (a piece of writing, etc.); to touch up
5. profit (excess of revenue over cost)

(source)

"RUNning away from Shanghai" (5/13/22)

Easier said than done, especially when the government was using extreme, draconian measures to keep people locked in their residences and not go anywhere, even within the city.

Naturally the government was displeased at the flourishing of RUN rhetoric and activities, so they tried to coopt RUN by using the English word "wrong" as a pun against the original pun.  Thus we have an English word being used as a pun for a Chinese word that was being used as a pun for an English word.

Language-wise, that's how crazy things can get in the Peoples Republic of China.  Beyond 1984.

 

Selected readings

• "Epochal Shanghai drone quote: 'Control your soul’s desire for freedom.'" (5/8/22)
• "Tongji University's creative Sinographic design" (4/29/22)
• "Zero-COVID: null with a difference" (9/13/22)
• "Dynamic zero" (5/19/22)
• "Merriam-Webster gives 'vaccine' a new definition" (4/30/21)
• "Xinhua English and Zhonglish" (2/4/09)
• "The mind-numbing official-speak of the CCP" (8/29/17)
• "New Russian Newspeak" (9/25/22)

 

September 29, 2022 @ 3:36 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Multilingualism, Puns

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