0303 HKSAR Name of the Day

Letty Luk Man Wai (Miss), student, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Vanity Plate: KINGKONG

Move over, big ape comin’ thru’ …

About car plate, licence plate, number plate, registration plate, vanity plate

About car plate, licence plate, number plate, registration plate, vanity plate

This blog loves names and labels, in whatever shape or form!

In 2006, Henry Tang Ying-yen (then Financial Secretary) announced a relatively minor money-making scheme by allowing the auction of personalised car number plates. This scheme cleverly undermines the intellectual property rights of creative types, and rewards those who have the means (i.e. money) to buy unique car plates. The HKSAR Government justifies this scheme by saying the annual net proceeds from auctioning these car plates would be used to fund poverty alleviation initiatives. HKSAR car plates must use a combination of eight numbers, letters or blanks.

A positive effect of the scheme is that Bloggers like HKSARblog profit (albeit not financially) by being able to comment on the potentially weird and wonderful car plates that zip along Hong Kong’s roads. It’s always nice to be able to take a picture of weird vanity plates (search this Blog for “Vanity Plate“).

Here are some examples reported at some auctions:

16 September 2006 Government Auction

1 L0VE U [HK$1.4 million (US$180,000)]
TVB [HK$800,000]
P0RSCHE [HK$700,000]
C00L [HK$450,000]
K1NG [HK$300,000]
AAR0N [HK$250,000]
SKY [HK$$220,000]

4 August 2007 Government Auction

FC [HK$450,000]
RS [HK$360,000]
NOSIE
JUICY
TOYZONE
INVENTOR
PAPER

15 September 2007 Government Auction

JW [HK$500,000]
JP [HK$400,000]
CM [HK$400,000]
MACAU 1 [HK$80,000]
BILLION [HK$30,000]
DAB [HK$15,000]

17 October 2008 Government Auction

AK [HK$230,000]
HANDSOME [HK$130,000]
OOPS [HK$20,000]
LAZY BOY [HK$10,000]
PHYS10
SOCIAL
HORMONE
UPSET

Related Musings From Other Bloggers
Meet The Wife
Laughter Is The Best Medicine
Dinosaur and Monica driving past chinese boys in white pants
Idiots

0302 HKSAR Name of the Day

Christabel Ho Man-fong (Dr), lecturer, Department Of Building & Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

0301 HKSAR Name of the Day

Rynson Lau Wing-Hung, associate professor, Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Son suffix; Substitution

0300 HKSAR Name of the Day

Bush Liu Pui Shu (Mr), student, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
[perhaps a phonetic variation of “shu” which may sound like “tree”?]

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Domestic Violence in Hong Kong

Is there an increase in domestic violence in Hong Kong, or are women and support groups lobbying better, or is the media covering this issue more? Perhaps a combination? What can be observed is there appears to be more stories in the local media about domestic violence, such as:

Help system `failing’ battered women (Nov 02, 2009)
Wife punched 10 times after she refused to have sex, court told (Nov 05, 2009)
Kung fu master found guilty of beating girlfriend (Nov 20, 2009)

The latest domestic violence case involved a 62-year-old man who beat up his 45-year-old girlfriend. The man happened to be a famous kung fu master too. I guess he won’t be so easily bullied during his two-month jail stint!

I wonder what a CantoPop or MandoPop version of Luka would be like? Or how about a Chinese version of this famous song from Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs (unfortunately, I can’t find the MTV Unplugged version):
Don’t Talk

At 1:50 Natalie Merchant makes it clear that this song is about domestic violence (due to alcohol).

Don’ Talk lyrics

Don’t talk, I will listen.
Don’t talk, you keep your distance
for I’d rather hear some truth tonight than entertain your lies,
so take you poison silently. Let me be. Let me close my eyes.

Don’t talk, I’ll believe it.
Don’t talk, listen to me instead,
I know that if you think of it, both long enough and hard
the drink you drown your troubles in is the trouble you’re in now.

Talk talk talk about it, you talk as if you care
but when your talk is over you tilt that bottle in the air,
tossing back more than your share.

Don’t talk, I can guess it.
Don’t talk, well now you’re restless
and you need somewhere to put the blame for how you feel inside.
You’ll look for a close and easy mark and you’ll see me as fair game.

Talk talk talk about it, talk as if you care
but when your talk is over you tilt that bottle in the air
tossing back more than your share.
You talk talk talk about it, you talk as if you care.
I’m marking every word and can tell this time for sure,
your talk is the finest I have heard.

So don’t talk, let me go on dreaming.
How your eyes they glow so fiercely I can tell that you’re inspired
by the name you just chose for me. Now what was it? O, never mind now.
We will talk talk talk about this when your head is clear.
I’ll discuss this in the morning, but until then you may talk but I won’t hear

Related Posts
What’s The Matter Here?
Suzanne Vega and Luka Revisited and Redefined

0299 HKSAR Name of the Day

Lennon Choy HT (Mr), lecturer, Department Of Building & Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

0298 HKSAR Name of the Day

Collin Kwok SL (Ms), clerical officer, Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

0297 HKSAR Name of the Day

Glendy Chan Cheuk Yan (Miss), student, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution