火星文 (huǒxīng wén): Martian script
Mars script (sometimes called brain damaged script [脑残体]) is a form of coded Chinese writing that uses abbreviations, homophones, Roman letters, and other nonstandard characters. For instance, “don’t mention it,” (不要说 bú yào shuō) is shortened to biǎo shuō (表说) and the word “thank you” becomes 3q (sān q). A free Chinese-to-Martian converter app is available on Baidu from I Love Martian Script (我爱火星文). See Wikipedia for origins and usage.
ex. The Song of the Grass-Mud Horse in Martian script:
Original在那苍茫美丽马勒戈壁有一群草泥马 他们活泼又聪明 他们调皮又灵敏 他们由自在生活在那草泥马戈壁 他们顽强勇敢克服艰苦环境 噢卧槽的草泥马 噢狂槽的草泥马 他们为了卧草不被吃掉打败了河蟹 河蟹从此消失草泥马戈壁 |
Martian Script茬哪仺茫鎂欐鰢勒戈壁絠辷羣愺泥鰢 彵閅萿潑叕聰朙 彵扪調陂叕欞敏 彵們凷zi茬玍獲茬哪愺泥馬戈壁 彵閅頑螚踴澉尅菔艱楛環境 噢臥槽ㄖㄅ萫泥鰢 噢誑槽啇騲泥鰢 怹菛蒍孓臥萫丆陂喫鋽咑贁孒菏蠏 魺蠏縱呲綃夨騲泥馬戈壁 |
EnglishThere is a herd of grass-mud horses In the wild and beautiful Mahler Desert They are lively and intelligent they are fun-loving and nimble They live freely in the Mahler Desert They are courageous, tenacious, and overcome the difficult environment To protect their grassland, they battled the river crabs River crabs are forever banished from Mahler Desert |
The Grass-Mud Horse eBook is your guide to the Chinese Internet. Available from Kindle, iTunes, and Google Play.
The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China’s online “resistance discourse,” used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness.
