Stop for some oil (Cantonese)
I spent years living and working in Hong Kong and never got very far with the Cantonese tonal system (nine ways of saying 'gow', all meaning very different things ...) I spent months getting a public minibus to work and shouting yau lok which I always thought meant 'next stop'. I later found out it means 'buy oil', or at least the way I was saying it, it did. I always wondered about those funny looks from my fellow passengers ...
Sent by: Helen
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Yau means "there'll be (someone/me)" and lok "getting off", a common yet special term understood by all Hong Kong bus drivers.
Hello! I study in England but I'm from Hong Kong. Yau lok means stop the car or I want to get out the car, people usually say it in the bus in Hong Kong.
Hey, that yau lok phrase shouted in the public minibus means "stop". Literally it means there is someone wanting to get off. So next time you say it when you want to get off the bus. Anyway, I think the funny looks from the others may mean: "Wow! That foreigner can speak Cantonese!" What do you say?
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