Very Charming: Linguistic Notes (2001)

Author: Huang Jiwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: July 1, 2002
Features: How to Speak Is Not a Theoretical Issue / At the beginning of March, there was a national sports announcer and host seminar, where a senior announcer called on colleagues to unite and elevate "how to speak" to a theoretical level. The conference asked me to speak, suggesting a topic for a future speech compilation. I casually said, "How to speak is never a theoretical issue, no matter when. It blocks the enthusiasm of those who are passionate and strive for progress. Later, I somewhat regretted it. Huang Jiwei's book involves 'how to speak,' and it's the third one. It doesn't belong to social sciences but is a leisure book, unrelated to theory, even though he made the book look like a dictionary, it still has something to do with Zhao Benshan's comedy sketches. This year's Spring Festival Gala's "language performance," Zhao Benshan won again. An openly deceptive unscrupulous merchant (selling, selling wheelchairs, or operating without a license) succeeded repeatedly, making the innocent victims who were tricked into buying become the laughingstock of the nation. Encouraged and rewarded, Zhao Benshan vowed to continue deceiving next year, determined to trick consumers into stretchers. The director said, "It's only Zhao Benshan who can perform it. Replace anyone, and they'll be executed." So such things cannot be elevated to theory. At the theoretical level, Zhao Benshan should have been immediately taken by the industrial and commercial law enforcement team and sent to Inner Mongolia to screen sand and plant trees.
At that same announcer and host seminar, an example well-known to many was mentioned again. An announcer during a football match broadcast to the nation saw Yang Chen break through from midfield and said, "Look, our Yang Chen is charging forward with pursuers in front and blockers behind." This is not within the scope of theoretical discussion; it's a matter of "not knowing how to speak." Speaking always involves words. "New words" are not born but "change." And this change can always find historical roots. The entries in "Word Notes 2001" include the evolution of "2000" and the continuation of "2002." Words actually exhibit a "river state," meaning that at any segment of the river, you can find the source and upstream elements. Huang Jiwei gave me some proofread drafts of the book, unsure if they are representative. Based on this, I will add some comments.
In the U.S., McVeigh was sentenced to death. The execution technician couldn't find McVeigh's veins at that moment and said, "Sorry, I can't find your veins. Found it, thanks for your cooperation." McVeigh died in "cooperation." McVeigh was a scoundrel who had committed heinous crimes and deserved to die. If we encountered such a condemned man, would we have such "last rites" with such trembling reverence? A condemned man asked for two requests before "embarking" on his journey: "Eat two steamed buns" and "have the main judge see you off." Both requests were fulfilled. The problem was with the newspaper used to wrap the buns. The newspaper had a news article about China playing against Korea in Seoul that night. The next morning, the condemned man said to the main judge who was escorting him, "There's one more request. What was the score in the football match last night?" The main judge said, "China lost." "Damn it!" The man regretfully walked to the execution site. Criminals have violated social laws to varying degrees in certain aspects of their lives, but in other aspects, they are innocent and deserve fair treatment. For example, wanting to eat buns and knowing the result of a football match. Chanel warned people, "Good taste ruins some true spiritual values: just like taste itself."
Taste is one of the most frequently mentioned and widely used words in recent years. But in the general public's understanding, taste has undergone a "generation replacement" process, and this process is still evolving. Half a century ago, the Chinese people thought that those who "were so shameless they would oil their pants if they farted" had "taste." Money had to be shown off, and being different made one "tasteful." In Seoul, South Korea, there is a "Chinese Guest Villa," which is actually a counterfeit of Las Vegas in the U.S. I visited it in 1999, and it was full of Chinese people, most of whom were gambling "21 points." A friend jokingly shouted, "Anyone playing 'three families' and 'pork chasing'?" Everyone looked up: "Where?" The friend said to me, "See? They're all eating soybean paste noodles, what are they pretending to be big heads for!" So Yang Lan's "living in Shanghai, making friends in Beijing, doing business in Hong Kong," and Chen Chong's "eating oysters in Taiwan in the morning, going to a party in Hong Kong at night, flying to the U.S. the next morning for an interview" are still modern copies of the Chinese traditional "I have money, eating oil cakes three meals a day" taste. This is also the direct "taste" reason why China has become the largest consumer market for Mercedes-Benz luxury cars.
Another example is "erotic." After the word "erotic" was disguised, a large number of products hit the market. A weekly newspaper launched a "One Week of Erotic" column; there was Jordan, the 3-page beauty of the Sun newspaper (tracked every issue, the main dish), and the newly launched (also called "just out") Carolina from Argentina—the Pampas goddess, Fontana from Italy, and Nicola from England. HBO had a series called "Sex and the City," which won the annual Golden Lion Award. Our media during the 2002 World Cup tried to create "sex and football" and made football a "." Behind a successful man's project, there will eventually be a group of women. Compared to the man swinging a golf club at the dinner hour, saying, "There's a problem, find," and then sinking the ball, the ads that pamper women are even more unrestrained, bombarding the lower parts of the body day and night, "all-weather," "side attack," and if you don't look at the image, you might think it's introducing the U.S. Apache attack helicopter. The ad idea "Nothing's wrong" is actually a "joke." Some great "jokes" from the and the internet have been constantly plagiarized by some crosstalk and comedy actors, showing how desperate the situation is. At a creative meeting, the older crosstalk and comedy writers sat together with second- and third-year students from the Drama Department of the Central Academy of Drama. Communication in words became a problem. Words like "Para-Para" and "F4" were not understood by many. Words starting with "F" are now too many: F1 is racing, F2 is perfume, F4 is a Taiwanese idol group, F16 is Israel's obstacle-clearing vehicle, F105 is the U.S. prototype fighter, FN is mad cow disease, and the most easily associated with them is "FUCK."
Simplification and compression of words have always existed. The full name of the "Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" may not be known to everyone, and "WTO" is sometimes confused with "MTV" because English, after compression, lacks the literal meaning of Chinese, becoming purely symbolic. But after Chinese is compressed, ambiguity appears everywhere. The "Office for Downgraded and Floating Population" is shortened to "Downright Office," and among the ambiguities, there is still an emotion. Most of the time, Chinese cannot withstand "compression." Compression is omission, and after omission, the meaning may change. Because the custom needs time to solidify. Some drivers in Beijing who often violate traffic rules call "traffic" "second police" (second police). After being detained by the police, they said, "Sir, it was the 'second police' who told me to take this road." The police were furious, "Let's put this aside for now. Tell me, who is the 'big police'?" After omission, words lose their respect. Because "second police" has the connotation of "fake army" and "second dog." Some meanings are now overused due to certain interests. For example, "green" refers to harmless, pollution-free, pure natural, and pure environmental products, like "green building materials" and "green food." Recently, after the exposure of "lean meat," a vegetable market put up a sign for "green pigs," which was unthinkable. After being corrected, it was changed to "mountain pigs," leading to people reporting the sale of wildlife. The result was explained as pigs raised naturally in the mountains, absolutely natural and harmless, being "super reliable meat." A more clever example is after the hit TV series "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" aired, the internet renamed it "Hats Are Greened." Pigs cannot turn green, but "agents" can spread all over the country. "Medical agents," "marriage agents," "auction agents" (the person who bids for the employer at an auction), and "restaurant agents" (a group of people hired to eat at a restaurant for a week to attract attention and customers)
At a press conference, a reporter stood up and asked a question. The speaker said, "You can check the press release; the answer is all there." After the meeting, the organizer found the speaker, "This is an agent we hired. We were afraid it would be boring. We gave them 500 yuan!" This is the "meeting agent." The most frequently used word last year was "," which originated from the three male sopranos singing in our Forbidden City. Their footage was repeatedly used and compiled into a film by Zhang Yimou for the Beijing Olympics to be shown in Moscow. Of course, there was also a scene from his film "Turandot" within the Forbidden City. This can be seen as a "Forbidden City singing circle" and a "CBD commercial circle" shining east to west on Chang'an Avenue. The success of the Beijing Olympics, joining the WTO, and China's football qualifying were called another " (excitement)" by some people and the media. The first two have weight and quality, but football was just there for the free meal, forced into the mix. At most, it's seaweed; it doesn't belong in the category of "seafood." Later, it was corrected to replace it with the Shanghai Summit. That's the right answer. Later, there was also the term "" (black evil forces, financial black holes, black referees), putting "black referees" together with things that hinder the national economy, people's livelihood, and social stability. Chinese football is full of ups and downs.
The creation of words (or called "hatching," which is another current word) has the most opportunities outside official channels. They are from the people, from the common folk. These words cannot be traced back with strict "word meanings," even not to be pondered over. In the early days of liberation, a poem written by farmers who had risen to power was widely circulated: "The Party is my dear mother, I am her child, I dive into her arms, munching happily, no one can pull me up." This reflects the simple and sincere sentiment of "wholeheartedly following the Party," where the Party is family, and the Party is mother. But if forced to analyze it with the concept of a market economy now, it will definitely be suspected of "eating from the big pot" and lacking the spirit of "self-reliance." To interpret it more negatively, if you "dive" into it, eating from the Party and the country (milk), and "no one can pull you up," it's simply a good-for-nothing who just eats and drinks. This is no longer in line with the times or objective.
At a farmers' market, next to a pile of already stale fish, there was a book stall. Besides some books like "Stock Market Success," "Lottery Treasure," and "Having Boys and Girls," there were actually two books on how to speak. One is called "Speaking Image, Speaking Style," a new book by a local author; the other is "How to Improve Speaking Skills," with the cover printed as [USA] Franklin. There are many people named Franklin in the U.S., equivalent to "Old Zhang" in China, but which Franklin is it? Similarly, it's unknown how many books like this on "how to speak" exist. Who said that how to speak is not a theoretical issue! This book includes essays such as "Love Makes the Temperature Rise a Little!", "Loving Many People and Being Loved by Many," "Tracy, Salad Up!", "Tell a Love Story We Can Achieve," and "My Dear Toilet!"