Unique Phrases and Expressions
Due to Hong Kong's unique historical background, Hong Kong Cantonese has evolved differently from the Chinese spoken in China, Taiwan and Singapore over the years. Hong Kong Cantonese has developed a number of phrases and expressions that are unique to the context of Hong Kong. These phrases and expressions usually make references to specific things that can only be found in Hong Kong or specific incidents that happened in Hong Kong.
Here are a few examples:
| Characters | Jyutping | literal meaning | actual meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 食皇家飯 | sik6 wong4 gaa1 faan6 | eating Royal meal | being imprisoned |
| 話知你九七 | waa6 zi1 nei5 gau2 cat1 | Who cares about your 1997? | Who cares? |
Here, the former refers to Hong Kong's status as a British colony, whose figurehead is the Royal Family, and the latter refers to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The situations alluded to are both unique to Hong Kong.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Cantonese
Famous quotes containing the words unique, phrases and/or expressions:
“One must love humanity in order to reach out into the unique essence of each individual: no one can be too low or too ugly.”
—Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
“And would you be a poet
Before you’ve been to school?
Ah, well! I hardly thought you
So absolute a fool.
First learn to be spasmodic—
A very simple rule.
For first you write a sentence,
And then you chop it small;
Then mix the bits, and sort them out
Just as they chance to fall:
The order of the phrases makes
No difference at all.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“Our books are false by being fragmentary: their sentences are bon mots, and not parts of natural discourse; childish expressions of surprise or pleasure in nature; or, worse, owing a brief notoriety to their petulance, or aversion from the order of nature,—being some curiosity or oddity, designedly not in harmony with nature, and purposely framed to excite surprise, as jugglers do by concealing their means.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)