On Politics and Chinese Double-Entende

A prominent politician in Taiwan DPP Zhao Tian Lin was recently exposed to be having an affair with his Chinese mistress.

The Taiwanese media had a field day. And since journalists are people whose pen is mightier than the sword, double-entende are all over media.

The very first was the tease that Mr Zhao, well known for his hardline stand on China issues was actually 亲中. The play on word on 亲 being both "close to" and "kiss" was plastered all over. He was obviously NOT "close to" China but was definitely "kissing" a Chinese!

And then came the infamous tweet.

On the surface, the tweet says "To take a hard stand against China, to use the sticks of flesh (a metaphor for sacrifices of soldiers) to protect Taiwan against China, to enter deeply into the den of the enemy!" The double-entende was unfortunately, very obvious and also intended, "To harden (referring to the penis) against China, to use the fleshly stick (again referring to the penis) against China to protect Taiwan, and to penetrate deeply into an enemy hole (referring to the vagina)!"

Language is a powerful tool in the hands of the literate.

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