# slang



## Nicolemiller

And though many Roma still use the slang term


slang term =粗口??

一般指_粗口_嗎, 還是指_行話_多? 以下有好幾個解釋, 但係一般講slang term 都係指粗口嗎?

slang

n.
 俚語
vt.
 【主英】用粗話罵

1. 俚語
2. 行話;(盜賊等的)黑話,切口

​


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## Lamb67

*粗口=swearing words, rude words etc.*


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## Ghabi

If someones asks me to tell him some Hong Kong Cantonese slang, I'd tell him words like: 貓咗 "drunk"; 雞咗 "fired" ... Why these words? Because they are not used or known by everyone who speaks Cantonese (my mother won't know what they mean). They're not an essential part of the Cantonese vocabulary, yet they are used by some people (often young people) within the Cantonese-speaking community. And they don't need to be cursing words or professional jargon, although sometimes they're.


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## indigoduck

slang term (俚語):
非正式的詞彙 - 比一般的語言保留著：隱喻，嬉戲，橢圓形，生動和短暫性的現象

don't know if i explained this right


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## xiaolijie

俚語 seems to be the best match for "slang".


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## Nicolemiller

Thank you so much for answering my question.


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## Jerry Chan

簡直一點的說, 是那些學校不會教的說話用詞
例如舊式一點的「雞腸」、「黑超」、「炒魷魚」, 或者「潮語」如「好hae」、「O嘴」等等


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## Ghabi

Jerry Chan said:


> 例如舊式一點的「雞腸」、「黑超」、「炒魷魚」


Eeerm, I won't call this "slang" terms because I think they're understood by all HK Cantonese speakers. And here comes the crux of the problem: we just can't go ask everyone "do you know what this expression means?", and that's why it's always difficult to define which are "slang" terms and which are not.


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## xiaolijie

Yes, it can be tricky to specify which words are slang, but I think the PO only wants to know the equivalent of the term "slang" in Chinese.


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## Nicolemiller

Thx for addional infos, thx


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## Ghabi

xiaolijie said:


> Yes, it can be tricky to specify which words are slang, but I think the PO only wants to know the equivalent of the term "slang" in Chinese.


You're right of course, but I think it's better to explain the term, since I don't find 俚語 a satisfactory translation, although that's what we'd find in most dictionaries (for me 俚語 is more like "folk expessions"). Moreover, the OP is from Hong Kong, a diglossia society (speaking Cantonese and writing Modern Literary Chinese). It seems to me that it's more difficult for people from  diglossia societies to grasp the concept of "slang".


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## indigoduck

Of course, slang is typically a characteristic of the spoken language as opposed to written.

I see your point. Spoken cantonese is constantly evolving and ever changing with whatever's in fashion in the cantonese speaking world ("la mode").

From an outsider's perspective (Learner of Chinese), i think it's safe to say that relative to Putonghua (Official Chinese), a good majority of Cantonese is considered slang.

But from a HK perspective, i'd say any expressions that have stood the test of time and been used for years and generations would be Standard Cantonese, and anything else that's lost its shine (過期), would for sure be considered "the slang of the past".

你食左野咩？ would be Standard Cantonese

As far as new expressions go, i believe they'd be considered slang for now, but depending where things go in the future (technology, politics, etc), they may eventually be part of the standard spoken Cantonese.

Just to make things interesting, i'm sure 電話 at some point was considered slang imported from Japan which now has become a part of our everyday lives.  Call me ignorant, but perhaps somewhere deep down in countryside China (do they still exist?), 電話 is considered a slang.  It's not unimaginable to say that 手提電話 will go with the dinosaurs some day.

有邊過仲有Call機呀？ (also the 傳呼機 which is a slang of the 80s 90s ?)


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## Jerry Chan

Ghabi said:


> Eeerm, I won't call this "slang" terms because I think they're understood by all HK Cantonese speakers. And here comes the crux of the problem: we just can't go ask everyone "do you know what this expression means?", and that's why it's always difficult to define which are "slang" terms and which are not.



Yes, that's why I said "舊式一點的"
These terms may have become "standard", but they had to be slang some time ago.

Like what indigoduck said, slang terms either fade out (become "the slang of the past") or become accepted into everyday use.


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