Posted on 08/31/2007 11:15:53 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
BEIJING (AP) - Hungry visitors to next summer's Beijing Olympics won't have to choose between "steamed crap" and "virgin chicken" if Chinese authorities succeed in ridding restaurant menus of mangled English translations.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list with 2,753 proposed names for dishes and drinks, designed to replace bizarre and sometimes ridiculous translations on menus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Foreigners are often stumped by dish names such as "virgin chicken" (a young chicken dish) or "burnt lion's head" (Chinese-style pork meatballs). Other garbled names include "The temple explodes the chicken cube" (kung pao chicken) or "steamed crap" (steamed carp).
"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," Xinhua said.
It's the latest effort by Beijing Olympics organizers to clean up the city and ensure that the best image is presented to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected next summer.
Etiquette campaigns are afoot to stamp out bad manners such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving. The revised menu names are part of an effort to ban unintelligible English, known as "Chinglish," that abounds on signs everywhere.
A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the menu names for more than a year, Xinhua said. Translators developed names for dishes based on one of four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste, or the name of a person or place.
For example, a dish with mushrooms and ducks' feet will be listed as simply "Mushroom-Duck's Foot." Others proposed names include "Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil" and "Crispy Chicken."
The tourism bureau is soliciting public opinion on the translations. Once a final decision is made on the list of names, they will be used in restaurants across China, Xinhua said.
I’ll start. There are many Chinese restaurants in the Washington, D.C. metro area that are still serving steamed crap daily. But, of course, everyone knows there are no virgins here, chicken or otherwise.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Awww, don’t get rid of them, we need the laughs!
Just my luck. I finally start to like steamed crap and they no longer serve it.
Really? What could I possible add to this?
"I'll have the Pu Pu Platter with stir fried rice and a side of steamed crap."
It would make a nice tagline.
My ex could make steamed crap you would die for!
I hope those proposed names are for different dishes!
How could you let a woman like that get away?
I assuming you're a male with the nic "SwampSniper." Either that or you're Emily Procter.
And she made him feel - well, like crap.
And "to die for"? Well, I'm glad he didn't take THAT option!
"My ex could make steamed crap you would die for!"
I’ll have the Kung Pao Trio - cat, rat and dog.
Or a Chu Li chicken. They were a favorite in ICOR.
You were a Corpsman, the year I graduated from High School. My humble respect to you sir.
Did you mean "could die from"?
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