Dian Dian Sha

This is the logo for a service called 点点啥 (Dian Dian Sha):

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So this is the Chinese verb (meaning “to order (food)”), reduplicated. The word is a colloquial way to say 什么 (“what”), used more in northern China.

Nice characterplay here, the second replaced by the service bell, while the first is modified a bit to look more like the bell.

One thing beginners might not know is that the character component consisting of four short diagonal lines (as in ) is frequently written as a single horizontal line. You can actually see this in some PRC character simplifications:

  • 魚 → 鱼
  • 馬 → 马

Obviously, it’s not applied across the board, leaving us with characters like , , and , which still use the four short diagonal lines in printed form. In handwritten forms (or certain fonts), even those four short lines frequently get turned into a horizontal line (usually kinda squiggly).

点点啥 (Dian Dian Sha) has an app aimed at reduced food-related wait times.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

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