The shrimp fucks the cabbage: linguistic mystery solved

Following up on yesterday's post about China's crackdown on "Chingrish," or bad Chinese/English translations, BoingBoing reader Bin Sun points out the likely cause of the laff-worthy "X fucks Y" examples we've found:

In one of the links referenced in your post, i found a sign that reads

THE SHRIMP FUCKS THE CABBAGE

In chinese, this actually translates to "Stir-fried Dried Shrimp with Pak Choy [Ed. Note: aka 'bok choy,' a leafy vegetable]". Link to image.

And here is another: Image link.

The problem arises because in certain area of China (actually mainly across the strait in Taiwan first), "dry/dried" has the same pronounciation as "fuck" and shared the same character in the simplified Chinese -- they probably used babelfish to do a mechanical translation.

An anonymous BoingBoing reader says,

Language log investigated the "fuck" translation issue a few months ago: Link, Link 2.

In the second of those two links, a possible source for all these misplaced F-words on Chinese menus is identified: a bug in a popular translation software app, perhaps intentionally placed by a mischievous person.

As for "INDIVIDUAL TRAVEL DEPARTMENT OF TITS," the sign I found in Lhasa, Bin Sun explains:

TITS = Telecom International Travel Service, I think. (a subsidiary of Tibet Telecom, branching into travel business. you can see what is profitable in Tibet these day. it is not the lucrative telecom service in such a sparsely populated area) See this name card.

The Chinese words could be short form for: Tibet Telecom International Travel Service, or Tibet Telecom National Travel Service. I know how capitalism has transformed China's state business and was no surprise that a telecom company is running travel service. At first I thought of the latter and the abbrv didn't fit. So I googled the chinese and the namecard turned up.

The address on that "TITS" business card are the same coordinates of the place where I shot the photo -- Bin Sun is undoubtedly correct. Thanks!

Many readers wrote in to remind us of the excellent Engrish.com, where you can find similar examples of linguistic laffery.

Reader comment: sebFlyte says,

You reminded me of a fantastic piece of Chinglish I snapped in Guilin last summer: Link. It was on the inside of the door of the changing rooms in a clothes store, and is certainly advice worth heeding.

tian says,

Here are some more Engrish related material: 1, 2, 3. I also run a small site called Hanzi Smatter dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in the West.