堅離地

Chinese

		really	to have no practical sense
trad. (堅離地)		堅	離地
simp. (坚离地)		坚	离地

Etymology

Near-homophonic pun on 堅尼地城／坚尼地城 (a place on Hong Kong Island).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gin¹ lei⁴ dei⁶

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: gin¹ lei⁴ dei⁶
    • Yale: gīn lèih deih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gin¹ lei⁴ dei⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: gin¹ léi⁴ déi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kiːn⁵⁵ lei̯²¹ tei̯²²/

Adjective

堅離地

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to be out of touch; to have no practical sense
   • 2015 June 7, Hui Po Keung, “Archived copy”, in 從「堅離地」政改到「離地」政治 (From "out of touch" political reforms to "out of touch" politics)‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 January 2023:

     高官坐巴士「落區」，宣傳政改，但卻不敢下車面對民眾，被譏諷為「堅離地」。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     高官坐巴士「落区」，宣传政改，但却不敢下车面对民众，被讥讽为「坚离地」。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     gou¹ gun¹ co⁵ baa¹ si^6-2 “lok⁶ keoi¹”, syun¹ cyun⁴ zing³ goi², daan⁶ koek³ bat¹ gam² haa⁶ ce¹ min⁶ deoi³ man⁴ zung³, bei⁶ gei¹ fung³ wai⁴ “gin¹ lei⁴ dei⁶”. [Jyutping]

     The high-ranked officials "visited local communities" on bus to promote the political reforms, but did not dare to get off to directly talk to citizens. They were then mocked as "out of touch".