Comment by MandMx on March 28, 2011 at 4:51am

毁在杯中摔在酒中

Huǐ zài bēi zhōng shuāi zài jiǔ zhōng

Google Translate: "Destroyed in the fall in the wine cup"

Good thing they didn't use the computer because I can't make heads or tails of this.  I'll ask MX later she might be able to help!

Comment by DK 大牛 on March 28, 2011 at 11:35am

And that's one huge wine cup.

Comment by Guus Goorts on March 28, 2011 at 11:46am

@MandMx it's 醉 (drunk) not 摔 (fall). The slogan definitely is about not drinking and driving, but also cannot piece together a neat translation.

Comment by Jiafuyun賈浮雲 on March 28, 2011 at 4:48pm

Perhaps it is "Destroyed in (by) the glass; drunk in (by) the alcohol"?

Comment by MandMx on March 28, 2011 at 9:42pm

D'oh!  I am not careful when I transcribe... Mx didn't check it!  Oh well!

Comment by Guus Goorts on March 29, 2011 at 8:51am

According to my wife (Beijingner) it should be read write to left. and the literal meaning is like Jiading said, "drunk by alcohol, destroyed by the glass". It's a bit of a forced pattern to have the parallel 。在 。中 in 2 phrases and draws on poems. So it doesn't translate well. But as we all suspected, it means "don't drink and drive". 

Comment by DK 大牛 on March 29, 2011 at 9:25am

So, I wonder if poetry is more or less effective in preventing drunk driving?

Comment by Brandon on March 30, 2011 at 7:41am

Here's a really good explanation that I saw, from the Reddit post (by DiKetian)

It reads from right to left and top down. "zuì zài jiǔ zhōng, huǐ zài bēi zhōng" "Drunk by the wine, destroyed by the glass".
It implies getting thrown through the windshield in a car accident. In addition, 醉 (intoxicated) is a homonym of 罪 (guilt/crime) and 毁 (destroy) is a homonym of 悔 (regret).

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