Then & Now | How in Hong Kong an amusing T-shirt slogan could land you in hot water in today’s ‘easily offended’ climate
- T-shirts with silly, funny or nonsensical slogans were all the rage in the 1980s in Hong Kong, but today they run the risk of falling afoul of the law
- If you don’t have a fluent understanding of the nuances of language and phrases, you’d be better off keeping your funny clothing in your wardrobe
T-shirts are Hong Kong’s most commonplace garment. English words or Chinese characters printed on them can be unintentionally hilarious – especially when observed out of context.
One elderly European friend – a fluent Cantonese speaker – enjoys a collection of brightly coloured T-shirts, each printed with artistically rendered Chinese characters which (in translation) state: “Please speak slowly. I’m still learning …”
When random people in markets and bus queues decipher the message, broad smiles, ready laughter and thumbs-up gestures are an inevitable consequence. Slack-jawed responses, when the aged foreign-devil “learner” opens his mouth to speak, are even more hilarious.
An immediate icebreaker with total strangers, these T-shirts – so my chum maintains – have led to many pleasantly unexpected new friendships.
Those whose memories of local life stretch back to the late 1980s will recall the widespread popularity of Japanese-inspired T-shirts (along with vests, hoodies and jackets) emblazoned with eye-poppingly meaningless phrases.
Japanese pop culture – then – was the driving force behind these fashion items. During those years, it sometimes seemed like every other young Hong Kong Chinese wanted to pass for Japanese; two generations later, being mistaken for a Korean when in South Korea was a high compliment among the same demographic. Sad – but there we go; times change. Or do they?
