![\"Cartoon](\"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/news_photos\/2009\/05\/obama_bush_full.gif\" "\\"click")
<\/a><\/div>\nBush (though he looks a bit more to me like the love child of W and maybe Prince Charles) is saying: <\/p>\n
\n不C 不C
\n喝果汁不能只有維他命C<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\nBù C<\/em>, bù C.<\/em><\/span>
\nHē guǒzhī bùnéng zhǐyǒu wéitāmìng C<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nA rough English translation, filling in a few gaps: <\/p>\n
\nNot just vitamin C, not just vitamin C.
\nWhen you drink fruit juice, you should not settle for just vitamin C.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nNote: The C is italicized in the Pinyin version to emphasize that this is pronounced like a foreign (i.e., English) letter C rather than how C is pronounced in the Pinyin alphabet<\/a>. The reason for this is that “bù C<\/em>” is a pun on “Bush”, whose name in Taiwan is generally pronounced in Mandarin as Bùxī<\/span>, unlike in China, where it is usually pronounced Bùshí<\/span>. <\/p>\n
Obama’s lines are more interesting: <\/p>\n
\n歐八馬歐八馬 (台語)
\n買果汁不要黑白買<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nRead in Mandarin this is:<\/p>\n
\nŌubāmǎ [Obama], Ōubāmǎ (Táiyǔ)<\/span>.
\nMǎi guǒzhī bù yào hēibái mǎi.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd roughly in English this is<\/p>\n
\nObama, Obama (Taiwanese)
\nWhen you buy fruit juice, don’t buy just whatever<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut the text tells people to read 歐八馬 (Ōubāmǎ<\/span>\/Obama) as Taiwanese (Táiyǔ)<\/span>, which means that it’s pronounced Au3<\/span>-peh4<\/span>-be2<\/span>, which is a pun with what is written, in red for emphasis, 黑白買. <\/p>\n
黑白買 in Mandarin is hēibái mǎi<\/span>, which means to buy things indiscriminantly<\/em>. In Hoklo (Taiwanese), however, this expression is O.1<\/span>-peh4<\/span>-boe2<\/span>, thus a pun on Au3<\/span>-peh4<\/span>-be2<\/span> (Obama). <\/p>\n
Also, hēibái<\/span> by itself is simply “black [and] white” (as in Obama and Bush). <\/p>\n
And Obama’s name, like Bush’s, has different Mandarin forms in Taiwan and China. But that doesn’t have much to do with the ad. <\/p>\n
As always, I welcome those who (unlike me) know Taiwanese romanization well to correct anything that needs fixing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s something from an ad I saw on the Taipei subway (MRT). It features cartoons of George W. Bush and Barack Obama shilling for some vitamin drink. Bush (though he looks a bit more to me like the love child … Continue reading