What is the role of English commentaries in Hong Kong? Does it always have to be written by expats, for expats, on things that happen in Hong Kong? These questions often come to mind, especially when I am writing about cultural phenomena, a lot of which are deeply embedded in the Chinese language. The issue of translation inevitably arises, and one faces the limit of cross-cultural understanding.

To avoid these difficulties, a lot of topics are dropped. We pretend that everything is universal, or, at least, that only universality is worth discussing. The truth is: This universality is often nothing but an Anglo-Saxon particularity in disguise.

This logic works reasonably well in Hong Kong, but when it comes to the mainland it is an entirely different story. Starbucks never has to use a Chinese name in Hong Kong (and admittedly, many other places), but it calls itself the Xingbake on the mainland. IKEA does not bother to translate the names of its products into Chinese in its Hong Kong stores (and website), but it does on the mainland. That led to the Lufsig doll episode, which is an unintentional by-product of cross-cultural interactions between the Swedish, Putonghua and Cantonese languages.

People here, of course, would like to use these differences as a proof that Hong Kong is more internationalized. I would buy this argument, if they can pronounce Lufsig, or the names of other IKEA dolls such as Blahaj, Gosig and Gladlynt. People around the world buy from these Swedes products that they don't even know how to pronounce, and they are perfectly fine with the situation. Indeed, it gives the brand an exotic favor, and I have no doubt it is a marketing strategy that works universally - except on the mainland.

Behind a name is a power to name or a power to demand a name. Things are named and renamed, as the underlying power relation changes. Hong Kong is losing that power, notably to the mainland.

A perfect example is ernai and xiaosanr - both signify a mistress, but each has a different socio-economic background and represents a different geopolitical power relation. The former is the product of the early stage of the "opening-up", when Hong Kong relocated its manufacturing activities to the Pearl River Delta region, especially Shenzhen and Dongguan.

That was a time when Hong Kong was much richer than the mainland. Truck drivers moving cargos across the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border were able to earn HK$50,000 a month if they worked hard. Things were much cheaper on the mainland in those days, and one Hong Kong dollar could exchange for more than one renminbi. Together with other Hong Kong managers and administrative staff in the mainland factories, they created a number of "ernai villages" - blocks of buildings where mistresses and their children lived.

Once a symbol of social ills in Hong Kong, the word ernai has gradually disappeared from our public discourse. What has replaced it is the word xiaosanr, which is a northern expression (some claim that it originated from Taiwan, but this is immaterial). The new term signals the cultural centrality of the north and the political. If ernai is associated with a period on the mainland where the blue-collar could earn more than the white-collar (the so-called "naotidaogua" phenomenon), xiaosanr is very much the product of "guojinmintui", or the resurgence of the State-owned sector.

Xiaosanr has now become a common phrase in Hong Kong, but a few sensitive souls still resist it furiously. They also resist salad being called shala, among other things, and sometimes these petty struggles make their way into the media.

Truck drivers are disgruntled, not so much because ernai are now called xiaosanr, but because they could no longer afford a mistress. In fact, the occupation has largely disappeared, as fewer cargos now go through Hong Kong's ports. Article 5 of the Basic Law guarantees the continuity of the previous way of life in Hong Kong, but it does not guarantee the continuity of the previous way of life of Hongkongers on the mainland. Too bad.

Radicals in online forums can insist on calling all mistresses ernai, but that would be quite pathetic, as these will no longer be Hongkongers' mistresses.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 01/10/2014 page9)