Dictionary of Hong Kong English, A

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91 K ▸ chau K B kaido kaifong kai lan Kai Tak rules kan kang kang kong kit fat kong kong Kowloon Kowloon City Kowloon Tong Kowloon Walled City kowtow kuk kung hei fat choy kung-so Kwai Chung Kwai Tsing District Kwun Tong 92 K kaido (ferry) (also kaito) /gaɪdəʊ/ n. Source language: Cantonese (街渡). Definition: a small boat often used for a ferry service or short-distance marine transport. Text example: 1 “If time permits, visitors might like to board a local kaido ferry at the old pier for the short channel trip to Lantau Island’speacefulhilltopTrappistmonastery.” 2 “Members of the public are advised that the ‘Kaito’ ferry service between Tsing Lung Tau and Luk Keng will cease operation with effect from 13 July 2009.” kaifong /kaɪfɔŋ/ n. Source language: Cantonese (街坊). Definition: 1 a neighborhood and mutual aid association; 2 the individuals engaged in such an association. Text example: 1 “Kan discussed the strong government encouragement of the kaifong movement during the 1950s, when voluntary organizations were needed to provide social welfare and engage in community development work, and the subsequent reduction of the government’s financial support when its Social Welfare Department assumed greater responsibilityfor socialwelfare services.” 2 “The beat officer had to talk to the kaifongs (residents), if only to relieve boredom.” kai lan n. See: gai lan. kaido ▸ 93 K ▸ kang Kai Tak rules n. Definition: an assumption that persons entering, or leaving, Hong Kong by way of Kai Tak Airport are not bound by the usual rules of marital fidelity and are required to keep the infidelities of others a secret. Text example: “Writing an article on a successful tour while maintaining thesanctityoftheKai Tak rules is always a tricky one.” Note: The potential term “Chek Lap Kok rules” has not gained significant circulation. kan /gʌn/ n. Source language: Cantonese (斤). Definition: 1 catty. Text example: “About 70 kan of Tahitian pearls were sold, bringing in US$4.14million.” See: catty. kang /kaŋ/ adj. Source language: Mandarin (炕). Definition: a style of furniture. Text example: “Several of the cabinets, low chests and kang coffers on displayfeaturetheflatfronted form, raised on short stylised ‘leopard’ legs, that is often associated with Sha’anxi and Gansuprovinces.” kang-style furniture (photo by P. J. Cummings) 94 K kang kong /kæŋ kɔ:ŋ/ n. Source language: Philippine English. Definition: a leafy vegetable of the species Ipomoea aquatica, that is grown in wet soil. Text example: “Well,justbecausewewereatLammaIsland,asmallIsland which produces fresh homemade shrimp paste, I decided to try it with a vegetable dish. So, we ordered Stir-fried Kang Kong withshrimppaste.” kang kong (drawing by Adrian Cennydd Petyt) kit fat /kit fat/ n. Source language: Cantonese (結髮). Definition: a first or senior wife. Text example: “‘Are you your husband’s kit fat?’, I asked the first wife— a kit fat is the first wife a man takes, ranking senior to any other wife he may subsequently take.” kang kong ▸ 95 K kong kong /kɔŋ kɔŋ/ n. Source language: Cantonese (公公). Definition: maternal grandfather. See: po-po. Kowloon /kaʊlu:n/ n. Source language: Cantonese (九龍). Definition: 1 the city on the peninsula of land north of Victoria Harbour; 2 the peninsula of land north of Victoria Harbour. Text example: 1 “The third term of the Kowloon City District Council (KCDC), with 27 District Council Members, came into beingon1January2008.” 2 “Hong Kong Island was transferred by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, Kowloon Peninsula by the Convention of Beijing in 1860, and the New Territories (consisting of a mainland area adjoining Kowloon and 235 adjacent islands) by a 99-year lease under the Second Convention of Beijing in 1898.” Kowloon City n. Source language: Cantonese (九龍城). Definition: 1 the Eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula that includes the former Walled City of Kowloon, Ma Tau Wai, Hung Hom, Ho Man Tin and To Kwa Wan; 2 the Walled City of Kowloon. Text example: 1 “This may be related to the larger proportion of private sectoraccommodationinKowloon City whichmakesthe electorate relatively less susceptible to mass mobilization effortsthanthepublichousingestatesinWongTaiSin.” ▸ Kowloon City 96 K 2 “However, Kowloon City was to remain an anomaly with the government ambivalent about their authority to administeritliketherestoftheterritory.” See: Kwun Tong. Note: This reference is only to the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and does not mean the same as “Kowloon”or the“City of Kowloon.” Kowloon Tong /kaʊlu:n tɔŋ/ n. Source...