Talk:Homophonic puns in Standard Chinese

What exactly fits within the bounds of the article title?
Homophonic puns would seem to be a pretty exact phrase but I have found alot of content related to this topic which may not fit the strictest sense of the word pun but none the less gets discussed in literature using "pun". for instance I added a section about gifts to avoid because of homophony (four,pears,clocks) but then removed it after I read the lead of the article puns. I kept reading and changed my mind. I think the section is relevant but it is questionable, what is the concensus for what to include and what not. I propose that we be pretty broad as that is reflected in the literature and is potentially the most interesting. Metal.lunchbox (talk) 19:22, 5 July 2011 (UTC)


 * When I started the article I had intended the broadest scope possible, but did not want to include examples that were not culturally relevant. So for example the word for "shit" 屎 shi3 is a homophone with a couple of other characters but since there is no real manipulation of these homophones which is significantly common in Chinese speaking communities, it would not be appropriate to include. The examples of pears, clocks, and four I specifically had in mind in including from the onset, so nice work there. Although green hats for example are also taboo, there is no homophony involved so this would naturally be precluded. I think cultural relevance should be the main criteria for the article. It should be something of significant importance to Chinese culture or reveal something about the representative ways homophony is manipulated in communication between the speakers. -Devin (d.s.ronis) (talk) 14:48, 10 July 2011 (UTC)


 * THat works, it sounds like the content pretty well fits that scope. Metal.lunchbox (talk) 17:03, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Is this the best name for the article?
In the recent deletion discussion concerns about the name came up. I have two. "Homophonic puns" may be more specific then the actually subject of the article, although I am not sure how to improve this, maybe just "Puns". "Chinese", despite rather simplistic declarations to the contrary is, by some meaningful measures, a language. I'm not sure that it is the most accurate way to refer to the subject of this article though. I propose that either the article should be changed to "Mandarin Chinese" as all of the examples currently are directly related to puns in that language or the article be expanded to include some information, even if just a summary, about puns in not-mandarin Chinese. We could of course, also just keep the name and move on. what is the consensus? Metal.lunchbox (talk) 18:51, 7 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I have moved it to Mandarin for now...until we can find something out of Hong Kong or otherwise specific to Cantonese, this is what the article title should be at. &mdash; HXL: 聊天 (T)  和  貢獻 (C)  21:21, 7 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I just came across this interesting article. Good work! Language Log recently had a homographic Pinyin for disambiguation pun. If we could find enough examples of other paranomastic types, perhaps the present article could be expanded to Puns in Mandarin Chinese. What about Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den? I'll look for more refs. Keahapana (talk) 02:07, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Pseudonyms that are puns
I know that it has been a very common practice for Chinese authors to published under a pseudonym and that some of these are base on puns, but I cannot think of any. Does anyone know of any note-worthy examples? Metal.lunchbox (talk) 02:21, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Mao Dun! 茅盾 for 矛盾 contradiction -Devin (d.s.ronis) (talk) 02:44, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Xiang qian kan, where to put it
Several books cite the example of "xiang qian kan" a pun loaded with meaning about the dramatic shift in chinese society over the last several decades. it either means "look forward to the future" a common Mao-era slogan of encouragement and common destiny, or "Looking for money" although translations vary depending on the context. In either case the meanings contrast highly. It is likely that users of the later are doing so with some irony, in reference to the old slogan. I think its a great bit of content to include but I don't know where to put it. Metal.lunchbox (talk) 20:25, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I've added this to the "Other" section. Metal.lunchbox (talk) 23:11, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Fenqing
It might be good to include the two fenqings: 愤青 and 粪青, "angry (nationalist) youth" and "idiotic youth." Nciku could be a reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.109.92.159 (talk) 04:26, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

wikipedia article about this topic -> Fenqing. Another source from baidu. - Metal lunchbox (talk) 20:36, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Go make one for canto and others
be nice about it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.61.133.5 (talk) 06:28, 17 February 2015 (UTC)