{"id":47897,"date":"2020-07-31T23:05:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T04:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=47897"},"modified":"2020-07-31T23:05:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T04:05:52","slug":"handfoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=47897","title":{"rendered":"Handfoot"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Lisa Nichols:<\/p>\r\n

I noticed on Twitter some HK protest folks last night talking about being a \"handfoot\", seemingly a newly coined (punned?) term playing with Chinese characters.\u00a0 I can't seem to figure out much about it, though, but, in trying, came across your posts on Hong Kong protest language [see \"Selected readings\" below] and thought you might know, or be able to figure it out easily, or at least be interested.<\/p>\r\n

Can you tell me more about it?\u00a0 Some Cantonese play?\u00a0 I take it the meaning is a person on the streets, on the frontlines, but maybe something more than that.<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The Cantonese term is sau2zuk1 \u624b\u8db3 (\"hands and feet; brothers\"); in Mandarin it would be pronounced sh\u01d2uz\u00fa and has the same meanings.<\/p>\r\n

Another term meaning \"hands and feet\" is sh\u01d2uji\u01ceo \u624b\u8173; in Cantonese, that is pronounced sau2goek3.\u00a0 Aside from the literal meaning of \"hands and feet\", \u624b\u8173 also has the figurative meaning of \"movement of limbs; action; trick\".<\/p>\r\n

Expressions derived from \u624b\u8173 are zou6<\/span> sau2<\/span>goek3 \u505a\u624b\u8173 (\"<\/span><\/span>to resort to irregular practices, make secret arrangements; manipulation\") and <\/span><\/span>m4 hai6 sau2goek3 \/ MSM <\/span><\/span>w\u00fa x\u00ec… sh\u01d2uji\u01ceo\u00a0 \u5514\u4fc2…\u624b\u8173 (\"no match for…\").<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here's the entry on <\/span><\/span>sau2zuk1 \u624b\u8db3 (\"hands and feet; brothers\") from a glossary of Hong Kong protest slang in Time<\/i>:<\/p>\r\n

Protestors refer to each other as \u201chands and feet.\u201d The term conveys the idea of unity: when the hands and feet of a protestor are injured, other protestors feel his or her pain.<\/p>\r\n

See \"Hong Kong's Protestors Have Their Own Special Slang<\/a>. Here's a Glossary of Some Common Terms\", Time<\/i>, by Hillary Leung (9\/6\/19).<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n