baan3 so4扮傻
Jyutpingbaan3 so4
Yalebaan sòh
Definition
To act dumb, play innocent, or pretend to be stupid and ignorant.
colloquialpeopledescriptions
How it's used
Acting dumb is often a strategic social maneuver in Hong Kong to avoid responsibility or to stay out of trouble. It implies a conscious choice to feign ignorance rather than a lack of intelligence. People often use this to describe someone who is actually quite cunning but hides it behind a facade of innocence.
Examples
Stop pretending to be dumb here, it was clearly you who broke it.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with being genuinely slow or mentally challenged. Using this term to describe someone with a disability is highly offensive and insensitive.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
