Our first inclination is to call this childish, call it name-calling, think it makes China look foolish and impotent.

This is because we miss the performativity or ritual use of language. Note what China is protesting here: Taiwan's president of the time, Lee Teng-Hui, had declared that China's relationship with Taiwan should be on a "state-to-state basis." This is ritually significant; it is verbal independence. And China is replying with measured force, in kind, just as would seem ritually appropriate: a sharp counterattack of words. This is fighting fire with fire; or incense with incense.

Now, when we read this Chinese passage directly translated, and laugh, we should bring ourselves up short. Here we are indeed divided by common language: the Beijing response makes perfect sense given their cultural assumptions about language, but we are quite blind to the intended meaning, and see something different.

Consider carefully: we are just as likely to be sending just as confused a signal when we use plain language in the traditional English sense for communicating with China, without being sensitive to the performative or ritual significance of our words.

An example in which this happened: San Francisco columnist Mort Sahl once, in his column, referred to a socialite appearing with a Samoan escort at a party. "Samoan?" he wrote. He thought he was writing a throwaway gag line. "What's a Samoan? I know what a samoyed is..."

Unfortunately, he had just called the man a dog. This is news in Samoa. This is a terrible insult in Samoa. There was actually a contract taken out on Sahl's life. He had to appear before a formal assembly of Samoan chieftains and abjectly, ritually apologize.

Words are deeds, in much of the world. Plain language practitioners must be careful to remember this, and to take it into account. Imagine striking a word for brevity and thereby destroying the effectiveness of the spell.

The moral of the story is, miss a step in this new global village dance, and a contract may be taken out on you as well.