March 21, 2014

774 words you can’t say on a Mongolian website

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The Mongolian government is protecting the country's children from having to read about asscrackers and skeets.

The Mongolian government is protecting the country’s children from having to read about asscrackers and lickerishes. (image via mongoliantravelguide.com)

Here at MobyLives, our position is clear. Censorship is wrong. But, can it also be completely hilarious? Judging by the list of 774 words that the Mongolian government has deemed unfit for the country’s websites, the answer is clearly yes.

Paul Bischoff at Tech in Asia found the list earlier this week – let’s get the political stuff out of the way early. Jordyn Taylor at BetaBeat writes that list “bans words like ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian,’ reflective of the LGBT community’s limited rights in Mongolia.” According to Tech in Asia, the list also includes the word “Chinese,” which “speaks to common anti-China sentiment here.”

But for the most part, the list, a mix of Russian and English, consists of everything from completely benign words (bugs, bad breath, dummy) to clinical (male genitalia, sexual act), to hilariously profane (poontang, wankjob), to hilariously, nonsensically profane (cocknugget, douchewaffle). I’m actually self-censoring here because I’m a prude and some of the entries are too much.

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I don’t know what kind of websites the Mongolian government has been looking at to put this list together, but go look at the whole thing. Really, do it.  But don’t even try writing “goshdarnit pissplaps” on a Mongolian website. You will totes be censored.

Julia Fleischaker is the director of marketing and publicity at Melville House.

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