7 Comments

Thanks as always! What does “toe the line” mean in the context of the final story?

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I'm trying to translate 擦边, literally, to toe the line, to get as close to what the moderators consider "pornographic content" as you possibly can without actually crossing the line. Because Chinese censorship is really strict, it's a long ways away from even softcore porn. It's mostly just sexy dancing? Often wearing a tight shirt and yoga pants, because you can't even show too much skin without possibly getting banned.

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In the US “toe the line” has the sense of obey a command exactly. “push the envelope” has a sense of going as close as one can to a unknown rule

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Oh, okay, I'll use that instead then

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Apologies if I’m pushing the envelope for user feedback ;) Please keep this great work! If you want to do another deep dive, the social norms of sexiness in public vs conservatism seems like a good one.

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Oh no, I love feedback like this! It's very helpful! Please don't ever think your comments aren't welcome!

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That’s my question as well! I thought toeing the line meant following the rules, but that doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of what everyone is saying.

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