The Cantonese Internet Slang (Chinese: 廣東話網上俗語 Korean: 광동어 인터넷 은어) is an informal language originated from the Internet, which can be found on forums, chat rooms and other social platforms. It is often adapted with self-created and out-of-tradition forms. Cantonese Internet Slang is prevalent among young Cantonese speakers and it can reflect the youth culture of Hong Kong.
Save time and ease communication
Able to type faster with shorter sentences or letters
Helps create a sense of identity or bonding in online communities
Becomes a medium for expressing their own ideas and an indication of memberships among Cantonese-speakers
Ruin Hong Kong students' usage of grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure in Chinese composition
Students believe that it is acceptable to make serious grammatical errors and use informal Chinese vocabulary in formal writings
Their Chinese compositions are often filled with causal phrases and improper slangs from the Internet forums
Code-switching
The Cantonese-English code-switching is the insertion of isolated English words into a Cantonese Chinese syntactic frame. It can save time by adding a shorter English word or expression into a Cantonese Chinese sentence without distorting the original meaning.
Abbreviations
Abbreviation is the shortened form of a word used for saving time, enhancing playfulness and acting more like speech. People can share the same codes of language and thus it fosters a sense of peer-group feeling.
Rebus Writing
Symbols or words are used to represent another word that is similar in sound, regardless of the original meaning of the symbols. In Cantonese Internet Slang, we often use "88" to represent "bye bye". The sound of "8" is borrowed to represent the word "bye".
Puns and wordplay
Netizens often use words humorously as to ‘suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound' as a play on words.
MK: It is used to categorize some trend followers in unfashionable outfits.
Sap buk (十卜 sap6buk1): With the meaning of "support".
Add oil (加油 gai1jau4) : With the meaning of "keep it up".
Language cancer (語癌 jyu5ngaam4): The word is used to describe someone whose words fail to express what is meant or cannot be understood. Pronunciation of the word is same as that of breasts cancer (乳癌 jyu5ngaam4) in Cantonese.
New expressions are mostly generated from famous HK online forums such as The Golden Forum, AK Zone and Discuss.com. Members of the above forums will discuss subjects ranging from social phenomenon to entertainment, sports and gaming. Forum activists consequently create new terms for easy illustration on their topics.
Hehe: Gay couple. It is often used to joke about two male friends who are very close as if they are gay.
Sheshe: Lesbian couple. Similar to Hehe, it is often used to joke about two very close female friends.
Ba Da (巴打 baa1daa2): The term is derived from the English word"Brother" and is used to address male users in a forum, hence generate an amiable feeling within it.
Si Da (絲打 si1daa2): The term derived from the English word"Sister", similar to "Brother", it is a term used to address active female users in a forum.
Male Dog (狗公 gau2gung1): It refers to people who aggressively seek love from female, in form of physical and sexual approach. These people will love the girl without dignity and will strongly defend their love ones when they are being attacked.
Dog rush (狗衝 gau2cung1): The term not only shares similar pronunciation with "Male dog", but also resembles with the action of boys rushing to girls that they are interested in.
Hong Kong girls (港女 gong2neoi5): It refer to girls of several unhealthy behaviours such as narcissism, money-minded and blindly worshiping foreign people or goods.
Guanyin (觀音 gun1jam1): It is a negative word to describe girls who use different methods to attract boys to be her followers.
Guanyin's soldiers (觀音兵 gun1jam1bing1): It refer to boys who are being absolutely obedient to their "Guanyin" and is willing to do everything for her. So in order to win "Guanyin's" heart they are ready to sacrifice their time, effort and money to please her.
Goddess (女神 neoi5san4): Similar to "Guanyin", "Goddess" is a slightly positive word to describe girls that are worshipped by many boys due to their beauty, angelic character or good behaviours. In other words, these girls are known as symbols for perfection.
Toxic boy (毒男 duk4naam6): It refers to boys who are not a ladies' man. The term is originated from Japan, which initially appertain to boys of individualism, but gradually defiled to describe unpopular boys within a social circle.
Plastic (膠 gaau1): The word is used to describe people or things that is stupid or foolish.
Wash page (洗版 sai2baan2): It refers to the spamming act on social platforms.
Dive underwater (潛水 cim4seoi2): It is used to describe the inactive behaviour or absence of social media users.
Above water (上水 soeng5seoi2): It refers to the act of showing up on social media ( e.g. blogs, online forums, chat rooms etc.)
Uncover (起底 hei2dai2): It refers to an act of digging up and exposing the identity, background or personal information of someone online.
Broken gag (爛gag laan6gag): It refers to unfunny jokes that will lead to awkwardness after they are told.
Numbers are often used to substitute words of similar pronunciation for time-saving purpose.
88 (拜拜 baai1baai1): With the meaning of "Byebye".
55: With the meaning of "Yes". The word is derived from the similar pronunciation of Cantonese(唔唔 ng4ng4), with the meaning of agreeing.
199 (一舊舊 jat1gau6gau6): It is used to describe the unclarity and confusion of someone's language.
Political slangs are mostly obtained from certain political event and are a product of political sarcasm.
Mr.689: Leung Chun-ying, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong who got 689 votes in the 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election.
Mr. Rubbish Bin: This refers to Mr. Lau Kong Wah, an infamous former legislative council member. He was given the name after the photo parody of his inability to speak a word during the HKFS-government conference when Umbrella Revolution happens.
Mr. 4PM: This refers to Mr. Hui Chun Tak, Steve, the chief superintendent of Police of the Police Public Relations Bureau. He was given the name due to his regular appearance (4:00 p.m.)in everyday police press conference in the course of Umbrella Revolution.
Yellow ribbon (黃絲帶 wong4si1daai3): It refers to people who are in a supporting stance during Umbrella Revolution.
Blue ribbon (藍絲帶 laam4si1daai3): It refers to people who support police force to strictly enforce the law when Umbrella Revolution took place.
