gruntzooki posted a photo of a sign, clearly spelling out the policy of the Guangzhou Metro with regards to spitting around, pissing and littering rubbishes:
The full text of the sign is as follows:
Spitting around, pissing and littering rubbishes like pericarp and wastepaper are strictly prohibited and are subject to a fine of RMB 50 Yuan
So that’s clear then. I understand the spitting part (although does that mean you can spit if it’s only in one direction?) and fair enough about the pissing, but what’s pericarp?
Good to see Chinglish alive and well!
The pericarp is the soft fleshy part of most fruits; the picture suggests, however, that what is meant is nutshells (we eat the seed, rather than the pericarp, of common nuts).
What about “paper cup”. I try to think of someone phonetically spelling a word which they mis-pronounce to begin with. But the other post about the fleshy part of fruits would lead one to think they looked the word up in a dictionary and just didn’t know nobody knows that word.
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