Hanzi Smatter 一知半解, which documents, with impressive concision, mistakes in Chinese characters used by non-Chinese. There’s a delicious focus on those terribly embarrassing wigger tattoos. (Your third character is missing a stroke and your second character is upside down. And it’s inscribed on your skin forever. Who’s a tough guy now?)
Hanzi Smatter (whose title I pronounce à la canadienne with identical first vowels, hence not “Hahnzi”) epitomizes the smart Weblog:
- Obsessively focused on a single topic you never knew you were interested in that, in retrospect, you wish you’d thought of yourself and are glad somebody else did
- Showcases unique expertise and skill (value-addingly, the expertise and skill are linguistic)
- Is unimaginable in print
- Is done with bog-standard tools
A plate of sweet-and-sour pork and a side order of flied lice for you, Hanzi Smatter!