Yellow Joke

In Chinese language the character ‘黄’ (huáng) has two meanings, one is the colour yellow and another one is pornography. However, when you are describing an object's colour you can't just use the colour characters like ‘黄’ (huáng) or ‘红’ (hóng), you always have to follow it with a character ‘色’ (sè) which means ‘colour’. For example ‘黄色’ (huáng sè ), ‘红色’ (hóng sè ). Unfortunately, the character ‘色’ (sè) can also means ‘sex’, so make sure you are not talking to a teenager about ‘黄色杂志’ (huáng sè zá zhì) ‘yellow colour magazine’.

There are also a few vegetables that have the character ‘黄’ (huáng). For example, cucumber in Chinese is ‘黄瓜’ (huáng guā), it literally means ‘ yellow melon’. Because cucumber plants have yellow flowers before they develop into cucumbers it can be interpreted as ‘the melon after yellow flower’.