The language police in Shanghai, China's largest city, plan to ban those and other Chinese Internet slang terms from classrooms, official documents, and publications produced in the city, newspapers reported Friday.
"On the Web, Internet slang is convenient and satisfying, but the mainstream media have a responsibility to guide proper and legal language usage," the Shanghai Morning Post quoted city official Xia Xiurong as saying.
Internet chat and instant messaging are hugely popular with China's increasingly computer-literate youth, who employ an ad-hoc vocabulary of invented, abbreviated and borrowed terms such as "MM," meaning girl, "PK," or player killer, for one's competitor, "konglong" or dinosaur for an unattractive woman.
Despite the move, Xia said there was no reason why the terms shouldn't be used in other settings.
"Our nation's language needs to develop, but it also needs to be regulated," said Xia, chair of the education, science, culture, and health committee under the Shanghai People's ConGREss, the city council.
Xia didn't say how the ban, spelled out in new language regulations being drafted by the conGREss, would be enforced.
A random survey of Shanghai newspapers on Friday appeared to show the conGREss had its work cut out.
"Zhang Yaqin goes to Beijing to 'PK' Lee Kai-fu," the China Business News said in a headline referring to competition between the new heads of Microsoft Corp.'s and Google Inc.'s China operations.
