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(2) they are understood by at least 50% of the respondents to our questionnaire (In some cases the percentage is much higher).
(3) they are found in at least one of the dictionaries we have consulted viz. O.E.D., Webster, Collins' Random House (In many cases they are listed in more than one dictionary).
All the words listed in the Appendix which will be included in our study, fulfill the first of the three criteria mentioned above. A large number also meet the other two criteria. A small group of words fail to meet the third criterion. This last group consists of more recent borrowings, and includes terms with restricted currency within Hong Kong, e.g. tai tai and pak pai, and terms originating from contacts between China and the west after 1950, e.g. Renminbi and Putonghua, of which there are twenty-five in our Appendix.
In general, meanings and etymologies given are based mainly on the various editions of the Oxford English dictionaries; whenever useful, this information is supplemented by explanations taken from other dictionaries, but since a word in the lending language may be changed beyond recognition once it is borrowed into another language, the origins of some loan words are shrouded in mystery, and their etymologies may be based on conjecture rather than fact, e.g. ketchup and also gung ho. According to the O.E.D. and Collins ketchup is derived from Amoy koê-tsiap or kê-tsiap or 'brine of pickled fish', but it would be virtually impossible to find the Chinese words which would convey sound and alleged sense. Gung ho allegedly is derived from the Chinese for 'work together', possibly 工合, but the etymology is dubious.10 Also, over a period of time, mutual borrowing among a number of languages and related dialects may take place, so that it is often difficult to discover the path through which a loan has travelled, and the changes which have taken place through the varying intermediate stages. We have made every effort to discover the true etymologies of the loan words. Many ‘old China hands' and indeed 'new' hands know cumshaw as a loan word. But at least two theories exist concerning its origin. It is either derived from the Amoy pronunciation of 'thank you' or it