Subject: Folk Speech

Informant: Lo was born in Honk Kong in a Chinese family. She graduated in journalism from the University of Hong Kong and proceeded to work in the industry. After working for a few years in media related fields, Lo decided to specialize her education and came to Los Angeles to pursue a masters in film production. She is currently finishing her first year of the degree program.
Original Script: 搏 盡 / Bok chun

Background information by informant: The term “Bok chun” emerged within the University of Hong Kong and was emphasized by the school as a term to signify fighting and pushing the limit. The University believes that you can only know if something is not possible if you try it. Eventually, the term changed and began to be used as a term to mock those that had gone “too extreme”.

Thoughts: After a term has been present in a certain community for a while, it naturally gets attributed with new and different meanings based on present circumstances.