avatarAnthony Li

Summary

The article discusses the origin and usage of the Cantonese phrase "worse than Hoi-ting" (壞過凱婷), which became an internet meme and slang term in Hong Kong, reflecting on the behavior of a notorious student and the subsequent misuse of the term by public institutions.

Abstract

The phrase "worse than Hoi-ting" emerged from an online post where a friend of a girl named Hoi-ting criticized another classmate for pretending to be rebellious. The real Hoi-ting and her friend were known for their delinquent behavior, including smoking, drinking, and causing trouble at school. The post's candid language about the authenticity of being a "bad girl" resonated with Hongkongers, leading to the phrase's widespread use to sarcastically call out those who pretend to be worse than they are or to genuinely describe someone as particularly troublesome. The article also touches on the misguided attempt by the Hong Kong Police to use this slang in an anti-drug campaign, demonstrating a common issue where institutions misunderstand and misapply youth culture and language.

Opinions

  • The author distinguishes between the notoriety of the internet-famous Hoi-ting and a personal acquaintance with the same name, emphasizing that the latter's life choices should not be judged by her namesake's reputation.
  • There is a critique of the simplistic logic that equates smoking with being a bad person, suggesting instead that such behaviors may indicate a need for help or rehabilitation.
  • The author reflects on their own smoking habits, downplaying the significance of chain smoking and highlighting personal changes, such as reducing cigarette consumption and going to the gym.
  • The article expresses frustration with public corporations' attempts to engage with youth culture, particularly noting the Hong Kong Police's failed use of slang in a drug prevention message.
  • The author provides a nuanced view of the phrase "worse than Hoi-ting," explaining its dual meanings and the context in which it is used, both seriously and sarcastically.
  • The article concludes with a promotional note, recommending an AI service as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4), indicating the author's endorsement of the service.

Hong Kong English/Cantonese (XXV)

A Bad Girl in the Legends

You Can Be a Worse Troublemaker Than Her

Some names are always reminded because they are famous, like Elizabeth, Beyoncé and Britney. Sometimes, every Tom, Dick and Harry remember their names because these are just some names in the idioms!

In Chinese, there have been phrases relating to historical figures. But this time, I’d like to introduce a name that is pretty famous but it is just a common name.

Let me introduce Hoi-ting (凱婷, Jyutping: hoi2 ting4).

I know a Hoi-ting (Yes, the same Chinese name as abovementioned) who was my classmate at primary school. We were in the same class for a few years, but we didn’t have much interactions. We got into different secondary schools after graduation.

Years later we were connected back via Facebook. It looks like she didn’t continue studying after Secondary 5. I could understand that. She was pretty boy-ish at primary school — she often played with the boys and loved playing Pokémon and Digimon which were “the boys’ games”. And she didn’t study extraordinarily well, her secondary school ranked 4 or 5 among the 20 schools in the district at my time.

Anyway, school life doesn’t reflect what you can do in the future, so keep it up, Hoi-ting.

Photo by Mike Von on Unsplash

But my former classmate Hoi-ting is totally unrelated to the Hoi-ting I’m going to talk about.

This Hoi-ting is deemed “the worst girl in Secondary 1” with her friend. She probably has some self-destructing behaviours such as heavy smoking, drinking as well as cutting herself on her arms. She may be a member of the triads, and causes problems at school. But we have no idea whether she repeated her studies in any school levels.

How do Hongkongers know this Hoi-ting? Her friend told the internet.

It was 2017 when her friend told the internet because another classmate of theirs wanted to fake “the worst girl” title. However, Hoi-ting’s friend (who told the internet) didn’t like it.

I may have false memory because I remember that internet post should be around more than 10 years ago, around the time I was studying A-Level. But anyway, I'd better trust the internet for this, hadn't I?

Her friend wrote (and I translated (badly, with swear words, like the original)):

Do you know you’re so fucking dumb? I’ve been tolerating you for so long — fucking acting like a leader every day Seriously, the worst girls in F.1 are me and Hoi-ting We never stop you faking, but huh, you’re making it worse I and Hoi-ting haven’t spoken up over some things, not even the boys, you speak’em up? Nah, some things are there you just don’t need to mention Bad student? You can become one? You can be if you smoke, drink and cut yourself on your arms But you don’t even dare to have your score* deducted or mess things up at school How can you be a bad girl, miss? You wanna be like us? Join the gang! Cause trouble at school! Better try to get your score* deducted even when you get a negative score, like me You dare? You can’t even smoke two cigarettes in a row You wanna be like us?! Not even a chance, stupid cunt

* Some schools in Hong Kong has scoring systems to manage the students' behaviour and to keep the reputation of the school. It is pretty nonsense when looking back as an adult.

Hongkongers were pretty surprised back then because of her simple logic: Smoking is bad; smoking two cigarettes in a row is worse.

So quite a lot of people mocked the post and said if one smokes more than two in a row or smokes multiples at a time, they can be worse than Hoi-ting.

Because of this post, a phrase “worse than Hoi-ting 壞過凱婷 (Jyutping: waai6 gwo3 hoi2 ting4)” is created (since Hoi-ting was the only name mentioned in the post), and it has two meanings:

  1. to tell a person they are really bad
  2. to tell a person they are faking to be bad (sarcasm is used)
Photo by Nguyen Linh on Unsplash

When you grow up, you will realise that smoking, drinking and self-harming doesn’t make you a bad person, but perhaps you need some rehab.

As a smoker myself, I don’t see that it’s a big deal with smoking 2 cigarettes in a row. Maybe I’m too used to chain smoking, but now I don’t even smoke 3 cigarettes in a day. Going to the gym makes me smoke even less.

But talking about chain smoking, I believe I’m worse than Hoi-ting.

Public corporations are pretty bad at using popular slang. They just try to put slang together literally without taking into account the underlying meanings.

Recently, Hong Kong Police used several slang to promote drug-free life to secondary school students, but their slogan (kind of) is roughly like this:

You’re worse than Hoi-ting if you do drugs. YOLO.

Sighs. Can they learn?

Reference:

Hong Kong
Hong Kong Cantonese
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