Civilized dog

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The large characters say:

wénmíng yǎng gǒu

文明养狗

"raise [your] dog [in a] civilized [manner]

This one is difficult for the machine translators to deal with.

The fine print says:

qǐng jíshí qīnglǐ chǒngwù páixiè wù

请及时清理宠物排泄物

"Please clean up your pet's excrement promptly"

The machine translators do a credible job with this one.

We've had countless variations on "civilization" + "urination / defecation" in the China department of Language Log.  See "Selected readings" for a bare sample.

Selected readings

Of the numberless relevant posts, these are just a few of my favorites.



4 Comments »

  1. Eugene N. Anderson said,

    January 4, 2025 @ 3:14 pm

    My dogs are thoroughly civilized. And, etymologically, they are patterned brightly.

  2. David Marjanović said,

    January 5, 2025 @ 8:42 am

    I first thought this could be like the following I've seen:

    UWAGA!
    DOBRY PIES
    ale ma słabe nerwy

    "DANGER!
    GOOD DOG
    but he has weak nerves"

  3. chris said,

    January 8, 2025 @ 5:11 pm

    Aren't all dogs civilized, because if they weren't, they would be wolves?

  4. Philip Taylor said,

    January 14, 2025 @ 4:13 am

    I think you should ask that question of a sheep farmer who has had one or more of his flock savaged by an allegedly civilised dog … Not for nothing are sheep farmers are legally entitled to shoot any unleashed dog that is endangering their sheep. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but I have seen what they can do when improperly controlled.

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