You should follow up with a practical guide to Hong Kong “cho hau” or swear words; most Gweilos understand that someone yelling “Julie Lomo” at them is not confusing them with a friend but suggesting maternal incest, but how many know, for instance, that “chui foo fong pei” does not literally mean that one should remove one’s trousers to fart but that what one is doing is totally unnecessary 🙂
Do not worry too much. There is no one official “real English”. Even in England some local words are not used across the country. Southern England uses ‘full stop’, northern England (and the US) uses ‘period’ for the dot at the end of a sentence.
English is messy. So ‘congee’ is a real English word, but only in Hong Kong.
For further reading, may I suggest these articles:
Well, I found it interesting.
J.
You should follow up with a practical guide to Hong Kong “cho hau” or swear words; most Gweilos understand that someone yelling “Julie Lomo” at them is not confusing them with a friend but suggesting maternal incest, but how many know, for instance, that “chui foo fong pei” does not literally mean that one should remove one’s trousers to fart but that what one is doing is totally unnecessary 🙂
Dear Gun Powder Plod,
May I recommend, A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang, by Chris Hutton. It is used by the Hong Kong Police.
Yours
Rasputin
I bought a copy and learned that many words were not real English only Hong Konger’s English.
Do not worry too much. There is no one official “real English”. Even in England some local words are not used across the country. Southern England uses ‘full stop’, northern England (and the US) uses ‘period’ for the dot at the end of a sentence.
English is messy. So ‘congee’ is a real English word, but only in Hong Kong.
For further reading, may I suggest these articles:
http://english.mingpao.com/cfm/database3.cfm?File=20140903/livenlearn/20140903.txt
http://english.mingpao.com/cfm/database3.cfm?File=20140827/livenlearn/20140827.txt
http://english.mingpao.com/cfm/database3.cfm?File=20140219/livenlearn/20140219.txt
http://english.mingpao.com/cfm/database3.cfm?File=20140226/livenlearn/20140226.txt
http://english.mingpao.com/cfm/database3.cfm?File=20150204/livenlearn/20150204.txt