Blowing Water | Hai ya, si dan and hor, some key Canto phrases that will have you speaking the lingo like a local
Since simplifying daily conversation for sake of convenience is widely practised in Hong Kong, it is easy for non-Cantonese speakers to pass themselves off as competent with a few local abbreviations and interjections
Hongkongers love to mix the English alphabet into everyday conversation, mostly for the sake of convenience but also to showcase the city’s eclectic “East-meets-West” vibe. If you are new to the city, you may have cottoned on to the popular ones, but here are a few more to get you knee-deep in the local lingo and for those who have lived here longer, consider this a refresher session.
Some of the more commonly used abbreviations are MK, which stands for Mong Kok, to describe a person or a certain style that has a “Mong Kok feel”. It is an indirect way to denigrate someone or something that is of a lower quality.
When you see two Hongkongers arguing it’s almost certain you will hear them hurl Cantonese insults at each other with the occasional insertions of “PK”. This is a very common phrase to tell someone to drop dead (I’m sure you have already guessed what it stands for. If not, ask your nearest Cantonese-speaking friend or colleague). There is also a local favourite of using “KO”, an abbreviation of knockout; its usage is self-explanatory.
Become an insider in Hong Kong with our guide to the trendiest Cantonese phrases in town
I have once heard a Hong Kong expatriate cop string a sentence together peppered with abbreviations. It went something like this, “I was at PHQ (police headquarters) last week and bumped into Matt from CCB (Commercial Crime Bureau) who told me he just got promoted to CIP (chief inspector) after being transferred from TKO (Tseung Kwan O) to PHQ.”
To everyone else at the time, myself included, it might have sounded like an encrypted language, but it’s just local cop lingo.
Since simplifying our daily conversation for the sake of convenience is widely practised in the city, it got me thinking that it could be quite easy for non-Cantonese speakers to pass themselves off as competent Canto speakers if they can pick up a few local abbreviations and then add some Cantonese interjections in their conversations.
View this infographic: A world of languages – and how many speak them
Hongkongers like to display their emotions and show instant reactions in their speech, so the use of interjections is rather common.