The "Elegance" of Cantonese

It never really occurred to me that Cantonese can be "elegant."

But thanks to a Chinese language book outlining the various language problems found in Hong Kong newspapers, I now have a new appreciation of the "elegance" of Cantonese - at least Cantonese as used in Hong Kong.

Writer 朱立 wrote:

"广东方言其实非常古雅: 不说 "吃", 而说 "食"; 不说 "走", 而说 "行"; 至于 "站" 则成了 "企" ... 其他如 "睇" 和 "靓" 则似乎更古, 楚辞里都找得到.

"香港是个非常现代化的都市, 但口语中却保存了那么多的 "古董", 是香港人爱惜 "文物" 吗?"

Basically, the writer had given a few examples to illustrate his point that conversationally, Hong Kong people has maintained a number of words from ancient Chinese text.

Pretty charming, though hard to translate.

One "translatable" one is the example of "鸡爪" (chicken claws, pictured) which is more commonly referred to in Hong Kong as "凤兆" (phoenix claws). I guess it sounds better to say you want to order a dish of phoenix claws than a dish of chicken claws?!