"Dinosaurs", "PK" forbidden in news broadcast
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-02 10:03

Internet jargon such as "Dinosaurs" which alludes to unattractive women or "PK" for 'player kill' meaning competitor are now forbidden to appear in Shanghai's official documents, news broadcasts and teaching materials.

Wang Yaoxi, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Municipal People's Congress, said that it is OK for periodicals, books, video and electronic publications to use the new jargon that's emerging from the Internet and text messaging.

"But these words should be restricted in teaching materials, which are role models for standard use of language, and news broadcasting," said Wang.

New Chinese jargon is often translated from English using a similar sounding Chinese character with often very funny results. The new Chinese word for 'fan' as in fanatic, is translated into the Chinese by the word "Fensi", which actually means vermicelli.

The Shanghai education administration department has been authorized to enforce the law by monitoring the media on the use of language. The result of its supervision is expected to be published regularly.

Zhu Lei, a Chinese language worker in Shanghai said that there is no need to negate all new words appearing on Internet. The formation of some Internet words are now regularly used and are a production information technology.

Some netizens left comments on the Internet saying that the newregulation may suffocate innovation on the Internet although the regulation does not ban the restricted words.

Professor Li Baijian with the Shanghai University said that some creation of Chinese words for "Download", "Netlink" and "Homepage" have been widely accepted.