上一期我們介紹了香港街頭帶有諧音文化的錯別字，除了那些「錯字」之外，可能你還會在日常生活中發現一些奇奇怪怪的表達，甚至連報紙上都會出現各種各樣的「病句」。咱們先不要急於吐槽，也許這些看起來難以理解的奇怪用詞，正是「港式中文」的特色體現。In our last issue we looked at the homophone-driven misspellings you see on Hong Kong's streets. Beyond those, you may also come across all sorts of curious expressions in daily life — even newspapers turn out sentences that look ungrammatical. Before we rush to complain, it is worth remembering that many of these puzzling usages are precisely what makes Hong Kong Chinese distinctive.
二、名詞作動詞Nouns Used as Verbs
報紙上曾刊登過一則面向中學生的記憶力訓練廣告，標題是「你記憶一副撲克牌要多少時間？」你覺得這句話有問題嗎？A newspaper once ran an advertisement for memory training aimed at secondary students, headlined 「你記憶一副撲克牌要多少時間？」 — “How long does it take you to memorise a deck of cards?” Does anything about that sentence strike you as odd?
通常，表達「記」什麼時，要用「記住」，而不是「記憶」。「記憶」更多時候是作為名詞出現。Normally, to say that you commit something to memory, you would use the verb 記住 rather than 記憶; 記憶 usually appears as a noun, ‘memory’.
類似把名詞當動詞使用的例子還有：Other examples of nouns pressed into service as verbs:
他們週一清晨叫醒總理內塔尼亞胡，簡報這次襲擊（摘自《星島日報》）。“They woke Prime Minister Netanyahu early on Monday morning to 簡報 the attack.” Here the noun 簡報, ‘a briefing’, is used as the verb ‘to brief’. (Sing Tao Daily)
首先要低調自己（摘自《東方日報》）。“First you have to 低調 yourself.” 低調, ‘low-key’, is normally a description, not something you do to yourself. (Oriental Daily News)
這些詞語的用法讓我們這些普通話母語者讀起來着實彆扭，內心OS難免是：這都是「神馬」？To those of us who grew up speaking Putonghua, these usages read distinctly awkwardly, and it is hard to stop the inner monologue: what on earth is this supposed to be?
除此之外，「港式中文」中夾雜着很多英文用詞，比如：你唔好隨便 label 人啦（不要隨便給人貼標籤、下結論）。這也是受粵語影響產生的港式特色表達。Hong Kong Chinese is also peppered with English words, as in 你唔好隨便 label 人啦 — ‘don't go labelling people’, that is, don't pin labels on others or jump to conclusions. This too is a local speciality, shaped by Cantonese.
四、百搭的量詞The All-Purpose Measure Word
以「間」為例，通常「間」只適用於「一間教室」「兩間卧室」等語境，但在香港「間」就是一個百搭的量詞，可以與「個」相媲美。Consider 間. In Putonghua it is normally reserved for rooms: 一間教室 (‘a classroom’), 兩間卧室 (‘two bedrooms’). In Hong Kong, 間 goes with almost anything, rivalling the all-purpose 個.
學校、工廠、公司、診所、醫院、餐館、排檔、商店、超市、銀行、郵局、酒吧、教堂、賭場、大使館、旅行社、養老院、娛樂場所、電視台、球會等，凡是我們能想到的地點，幾乎都可以在前面加上「間」。Schools, factories, companies, clinics, hospitals, restaurants, dai pai dong food stalls, shops, supermarkets, banks, post offices, bars, churches, casinos, embassies, travel agencies, care homes, entertainment venues, television stations, football clubs — almost any place you can think of can take 間 in front of it.
香港人究竟有多喜歡「間」這個量詞，我們來看看下面兩個例子：Just how fond are Hongkongers of 間? These two sentences give some idea:
香港有八間接受政府資助的大專院校，有不同的歷史和傳統（摘自《明報》）。“Hong Kong has eight 間 government-funded tertiary institutions, each with its own history and traditions.” (Ming Pao)
以規模而言，德國的運送行動最大，該國共有五萬間私人銀行（摘自《東方日報》）。“In terms of scale, Germany's delivery operation is the largest; the country has fifty thousand 間 private banks.” (Oriental Daily News)
小編的話A Note from the Editor
我們不難發現，受粵語方言的影響，「港式中文」的特色之一就是詞類活用。如果用普通話的思維去看待這些用詞搭配，難免覺得錯漏百出，但其實，如果用粵語或英語的思維去理解，説不定你還要為這座富有地域特色的城市點個讚呢！It is not hard to see that one hallmark of Hong Kong Chinese, shaped by Cantonese, is this flexible use of word classes. Judged by the standards of Putonghua, such combinations may look riddled with mistakes; read with Cantonese or English in mind, though, you may well find yourself wanting to give this wonderfully distinctive city a thumbs-up.