And what is a half-pat anyway?
Moving overseas, whether for work or in search of a more agreeable lifestyle, has always meant learning new ways of doing things. Depending on where one ends up, language has usually been a significant element of this adjustment process, particularly if the newbie expat’s knowledge of the local language is not good.
Britons, Americans and other native English speakers enjoy an advantage over most other nationalities, of course, in that English is, for now at least, the main language of international business, whatever else may be spoken in the streets and shops outside of the office towers and five-star hotels.
But as any expat who has spent time in the offshore world would tell you, expats living and working in the various major financial centres – along with those locals who interface with them on a regular basis – have evolved a lexicon of words and expressions all their own.
This phenomenon is neither new, nor a problem; indeed, most expatriates who live in such financial centres as Hong Kong, Dubai, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey seem to take particular delight in learning the local expat patois and slang expressions.
This is the case even when the local expressions are seemingly insulting, as in the case of the time-honoured and, most would agree, out-of-date acronym FILTH – “failed in London Try Hongkong”.
(Anyone who might have thought that expression still had a ring of truth about it would have had a difficult time explaining why Fidelity superstar Anthony Bolton moved to Hong Kong from London in 2010.)
Perhaps the place with the richest expat/offshore vocabulary is the tiny but feisty Isle of Man. Its historically small and, until recently, not particularly affluent population has cultivated an expressive set of words to describe the outsiders who have been frequenting its shores in large numbers ever since Victorians from Liverpool and Manchester began spending their summer holidays there.
Though there is some disagreement in Manx circles, most agree that anyone who has lived in the Isle of Man for less than 10 years is a mere “comeover”; those who have been resident for between 10 and 30 years are “stopovers”. You only get to be a full-fledged “stayover” when you’ve been there 30 years.
To be truly Manx, according to this line of thought, you have to have been born on the island; and a further level of purity is awarded to those who can attest to both sets of grandparents having come into the world on the island. This is a rarity these days, with around 54%of the population estimated to have been born elsewhere, although Gary Quaggan, head of retail service and operations for Anglo Irish Bank’s operations in Douglas is one such Manxman.
(As in Jersey and Guernsey, having both sets of grandparents born on the island is a formally acknowledged state by the European Union, which does not permit such purebred islanders the freedom of movement enjoyed by others who have at least one EU-born grandparent or parent.)
Manx as the hills
“I’m as Manx as the hills,” admits Quaggan, whose island ancestry has been traced back to the 12th century, and who passes the old family homestead, Ballaquaggan (“home of the Quaggans”) every time he travels to the airport from Douglas. (“Manx as the hills” is another Manx term.)
Quaggan’s name suggests it is Manx, because it begins with a Q; you will also find a lot of islanders named Craine, Quayle, Kennaught and Crellin.
Also, Caine, Callow, Callister, Collister, Cooil, Costain, Faaragher, Gelling, Gorry, Kermeen, Kermode, Kinnish, Mylchraine, Mylchreest, Oat(e)s, Qualtrough, Quirk, Shimmin, Tear(e), Vondy and Wattleworth.
Another Manx words typically heard and sometimes embraced by comeovers, stopovers and stayovers is traa dy liooar, meaning “time enough”, a sort of IoM version of mañana.
There’s also Manannán’s Cloak, a reference to the heavy fog which was once thought to have been sent to the island to protect it from invaders, but now mainly inconveniences those seeking to arrive or depart by plane according to a fixed schedule. Manannán is a mythical Isle of Man (and Celtic) figure, who according to legend, was the IoM’s first ruler.
The land mass many Britons might assume Manx residents would refer to as the “mainland” – England, Scotland and Wales – some islanders like to call “the adjacent isle”, as if to keep it in its place.
Perhaps one of the most important expressions in regular use, and reserved for those who would dare, as Royal London 360 marketing executive Merita Taylor (an IoM comeover of nearly five years) puts it, “to dis the IoM”, is the following put-down: “There’s always a boat in the morning”. (Jersey and Guernsey locals say this is in common use in those islands as well.)
Names for outsiders
The Isle of Man’s terms for resident foreigners – its comeover, stopover and stayover definitions – is echoed in Hong Kong’s gwailo and Japan’s gaijin, both of which date back centuries, but came into frequent use when England was a major, and not always popular, force in Asia. Some say these terms have now lost their original pejorative connotations, others say they never will.
Gaijin, which, spelled Gai-Jin, was the title of a 1993 James Clavell novel, means foreigner (from gaikokujin, meaning “people from outside of the country”), while gwailo is a Cantonese word said to mean “ghost man” – a reference to the foreigners’ relatively light complexions.
In Singapore, foreigners are known as ang mo, which literally means “westerners”, according to a British expatriate who currently lives there.
“It is a neutral expression, and I don’t think anyone would take offense,” he adds. “Sometimes the kids use it when they are trying to be cool, but it just makes us laugh. You would use it like this: ‘the ang mos are taking all the good jobs’.”
Other words used by expatriates but mined from the Chinese spoken by many Singapore residents include hong bao – a reference to a traditional red envelope filled with money that is given over the Chinese New Year, and which under certain circumstances might be considered a bribe; and ah beng, a Singapore gangster stereotype. (The female equivalent is an ah lian.)
Explains the Singapore expat: “ This is the sort of chap who wears a leather jacket, bright jewelry and is a bit notorious. To call someone that in business would imply that he is a real shark.”
It’s common for Singapore expats to enroll their kids at Singapore’s finest English tuition centre so their children can learn to be bilingual.
Honkers, hongbi and the dim sum market
There is more to the offshore lexicon in Asia than slang expressions for people.
Honkers, for example, an Australian term for Hong Kong, is one such word. A more recent, and currently very trendy expression, is hongbi, which refers to the Chinese renminbi and which, in Chinese, literally means “redback” – leaving the listener in no doubt as to China’s aspirations for its currency, vis-à-vis the American “greenback”.
Another renminbi term is the “dim sum market”, a reference to the market for Chinese-currency denominated bonds, which have burst onto world markets recently. Dim sum, of course, is a particularly Cantonese specialty associated with Hong Kong, which is where these bonds are currently being offered to Western buyers.
A specifically term said to exist only in Shanghai – for now, anyway, sources say – is “half pat”, which refers to an expatriate who is hired there on a local contract rather than on a more generous expatriate one.
India, meanwhile, which during the time of the British Raj gave the world a dozen or more words including Blighty, bungalow, doolally and jodhpur, continues to be a source of fresh material for foreign wordsmiths with a taste for the exotic and no qualms about expropriating bits and pieces of another’s language.
A Financial Times journalist, for example, earlier this year made reference to a babu.
A babu, this writer explained, is “an Indian stereotype for a certain type of officious government clerk…he drinks lots of chai (sweet tea) and is generally a pain in the rear”.
Word-lovers, take note…
(below, International Adviser’s offshore lexicon)
Learning to speak fluent ‘Offshore’
International Adviser’s offshore lexicon
ISLE OF MAN
Comeover — One who has lived on the Isle of Man for fewer than 10 years
Stopover — One who has lived on the Isle of Man for between 10 and 30 years
Stayover — one who has lived on the Isle of Man for 30 or more years
Manx — Born on the Isle of Man
Truly Manx — In addition to having been born on the Isle of Man, both parents and both sets of grandparents were also born there
traa dy liooar — “time enough”
Manannán’s Cloak — The Isle of Man’s famous, flight-delaying fog
Yessir — colloquial expression similar to “mate”, though precise definitions vary
Baltic yesssir — It’s very cold
Longtail, ringies — words used by suspicious Manx people to avoid using the word “rat”; said to have origins among the island’s sailors
Skeet — news, gossip
There’s always a boat in the morning — If you don’t like it here, leave
The adjacent isle — England, Scotland and Wales
Alright baaaay! or bay! — Slang variations on hello, hi
JERSEY, GUERNSEY, ALDERNEY AND SARK
Les corbins — Local vernacular for crows, a traditional reference to Sark residents
Les crapauds — Traditionally derogatory term for Jersey residents; French for toads, which Jersey has that Guernsey is said to lack
Les ânes — Channel Islands term for residents of Guernsey, supposedly because donkeys were much used in St Peter Port in years past, but also, it is said, for the temperament of the locals
Clameur de haro — a legal term that dates back centuries, and permits a person who feels he or she has been wronged to declare this fact, in a prescribed manner — on their knees, with hands in the air
Les lapins — Name for Alderney residents; Alderney being known for having lots of rabbits
SPAIN
Spank shop — any kind of investment company set offshore (often but not necessarily in Spain, though this is one place the term is used), with the purpose of not being subject to UK regulations, in order to take advantage of being able to undercut the regulated competition and otherwise benefit from not playing by the rules, for commercial benefit
JAPAN
Gaijin — Word for non-Japanese people, from gaikokujin, meaning “people from outside of the country”
Samuri bonds – Yen-denominated bonds
CHINA, HONG KONG
Dim sum market — reference to the market for Chinese-currency denominated bonds, currently sold to non-mainland investors only through Hong Kong, known for its dim sum cuisine. (Sterling bonds are known as bulldog bonds)
F.I.L.T.H. — Acronym for “Failed in London Try Hong Kong”, more in use before global centre of wealth creation began to shift to the east
Guanxi — A Chinese term used to describe certain kinds of relationships or connections that are beneficial in a business sense; a bit like “networking”. Said to be one of the first words a business Gwailo (see below) learns upon arriving in China
Gwailo — Literally, “ghost man”, a centuries-old reference to foreigners in the Southern China/Hong Kong region
Hongbi — Chinese for “redback” and a reference to the renminbi, which many in China would like to see rival the US “greenback” as a global currency
Honkers — Slang for Hong Kong
Honkers & Shankers — Slang for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, now known to most of the world as HSBC
Half-pat — Term heard in Shanghai, referring to expatriates who are hired on a local contract rather than a (more generous) expatriate one
Red chips — Overseas listed Chinese companies; a variation of the term “blue chips”
Wealth mist – Local euphemism for the much-loathed pollution that wafts over Hong Kong from China, a function of its filthy power plants and factories
SOUTH KOREA
Kimchi bonds – A nickname for South Korea’s foreign currency-denominated bonds, which alludes to one of the country’s culinary specialties, a type of fermented cabbage.
INDIA
Babu — A “certain type of officious government clerk”
SINGAPORE
Ah beng — A gangster stereotype (The female equivalent is an ah lian)
Ang mo — Local term for a western person, expat
Hong bao — A traditional red envelope filled with money and given over the Chinese New Year, as in other places where Chinese culture is present; can be seen as a bribe in some contexts, as in “he was looking for a little hong bao to smoothe out the deal”
Lah — A word added to the end of a sentence to add emphasis (“Hurry lah!” means “come on, let’s go!”) Said to derive from Hokkien dialect, spoken by certain Chinese from the Fujian province and other parts of Asia.
Meh – Similar to lah, a Hokkien word that expresses incredulity
Singlish – The name given to the patois spoken by many Singaporeans. In addition to incorporating words from Chinese and other languages that are part of Singaporean culture, it has some of its own idiosyncrasies, such as a fondness for acronyms. The new Marina Bay Sands Casino, for example, is the MBS.
THE PHILIPPINES
Panget — Filipino (tagalog) word for “ugly”. (“Man, that dude is so panget, his reflection got a blindfold!”)
Gwapo – Filipino word for “handsome”.
Kaliwa, kanan – “left” and “right”. “At least I know my kaliwa from my kanan!” (“…And my panget from my manganda…”)
CYPRUS
Charlies — A derogatory term that refers to Cypriots who have returned to Cyprus after having been brought up elsewhere, such as London. A suggested origin of the term is that when Cypriots began arriving in the UK after WWII, the English couldn’t pronounce Charalambous, which is a very common Greek Cypriot name. The Ch is pronounced like the ch in the Scottish word “loch”; so the English called them “Harry” and “Charlie” instead
Off island — Also used in such other island jurisdictions as the Isle of Man and Channel Islands, this is how those islanders who have gone off on business or holiday are described, or describe themselves, when away
