how do you say 'police' and 'american embassy'

[jessica]

how do you say 'police' and 'american embassy' in contonese, thank you for your time

[%sig%]

[Dylan Sung]

mei gwok dai see goon = american embassy

chaai low - policeman (a bit dated)
chaai yan - police (person, male or female - dated like the last)

ging chat - police (modern, refers to male and female officers)

a-sir (if say member of public addresses a HK police person)

(I bet you can guess where the latter comes from...)

Dyl.

[...]

heres a question Dyl... what if you are talking to a nui yan geng chat?

[Ah Tiong]

Just called“nui ging” 女警

[Dylan Sung]

You'd call a female office "Madam".

Dyl.

[Pepsi24601]

i thought ging chat referred to detectives. at least in HK sitcoms, ging chat solve crimes and wear plain clothing while chai lo wears police uniform.

[Terence]

in HK, police are call
rude: caai1 lou2, for policewoman : caai1 po4(差婆)
common : caai1 jan4
formal : ging2 caat3
these apply to detectives
more for plain clothes detectives are: zaap6 caai1(雜差), rude: lou5 zaap2(老雜), old saying: ce1 tau2(車頭) or CID(Crime Investigation Department)
aa3 sir (阿sir) can be used to address all law enforcement personnels, and male teachers.

[Datsun]

How about 'luk yee'? Is that still used? I think it means Auntie Green (for their uniforms).

[%sig%]

[Terence]

more than half century ago, HK policeman's uniform were green in colour, so people called them luk6 yi1 綠衣, in late 50's, uniformed policemen are called hak1 goek3 黑腳, because the shock they wore are black in colour. Now these names are rare.

[Datsun]

Yea, learned that from my parents. Never knew the proper term, ging chat, etc until I started watching HK movies. I kept wondering, why don't they say luk yee?

[.]

coz they are not longer in "green' uniform :p

[kappon]

i thought ging chat referred to detectives. at least in HK sitcoms, ging chat solve crimes and wear plain clothing while chai lo wears police uniform.