EP32｜點解一百叫紅衫魚？香港錢銀俗語入門 (Why Hong Kong Dollars Have Funny Nicknames)

香港人講錢，唔止會講「一百蚊」，仲會講「紅衫魚」。呢啲錢銀俗語夠晒地道，亦係香港日常對話入面好有代表性嘅一部分。

呢一集，你會聽到：

• 香港常見錢銀俗語入門。
• 點解一百蚊叫「紅衫魚」，千元叫「金牛」？
• 呢啲銀碼花名點樣自然用喺香港人日常對話入面。

呢一集，就係屬於香港錢銀俗語嘅入門。
Hit play，一齊諗下：你最常聽到嘅，又係邊個銀碼花名？ 

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In Hong Kong, people don’t just say “one hundred dollars” — they often call it “red-shirt fish,” while one thousand dollars is known as “gold bull.” These money nicknames are deeply rooted in local Cantonese and are a very recognizable part of everyday speech.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• A beginner-friendly guide to common Hong Kong money slang.
• Why HKD 100 is called “red fish,” and how other notes got nicknames like“golden cow”
• How to use these terms naturally in everyday conversation.

This episode is your perfect introduction to the world of Hong Kong money slang.
Hit play and think about this: which of these money nicknames do you hear the most often?

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@lyungap24

Instagram: cantonese.lyungap_24

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello da ga ho Funying Daga vanne loing up yase Go Hiya Ken Hello everyone Welcome back to Loing Up Yase I am a Ken Kumodle So Gai Siu Jolly Go Yap Pei Yei Se Ka Maman Gum Gum Table So San Tom Daika Joy Sam Yap Di Hogai Siu Liat Go Hong Gong Cho Yu Gati Lik Sigu Sila Tomakok Yao Lo In the last Episode We introduced Yap Pei Means $100 Which is a more local way of calling $10,000. So today we are going to introduce more in a detailed way like their history and the origins of this kind of Hong Kong money slang. First of all, let me introduce why we will call money as water. In Cantonese we have a sentence call water is wealth because it flows in circulates just like money. So that's why we will call $100 as yet. In the past, money used to be bundled into a stacks just like a lump of money. So for a larger value we have yet pe one skin means ten thousand dollars. So we use one bore to represent one million. It's just a visual imaginary cash which forms a big round ball. So one million it's one ball yet cow. Hola gum tau sin the guys four by geok yu canjola the son tung daika fan ya go hang ho gileti baile could after introducing the value of money let's go to the nickname of calling the money. Hang gongi yung ding sega toma y to gon hoi go meng. Hong Kong people are incredibly creative at renaming money based on their colours and their designs. Hosingange Tasing Gong Y Batman Yao So Leza W Hong Sam Yu la For 100 Yet Gao So Ya Batman What is a Yung Hong Sam Yu Little Yan Yong Koga Yungo Yun and Zo Hong Zan Senge Hong Sam Yu Ging Yan sik Yap Mo Yun So y Fei Sang Zi Jan Zangy For 100 we will call it Hong Sam Yu, which is a kind of red fish in Hong Kong because the colour of $100 is exactly just like the red fish Hong Sam Yu. So people just use Hong Sam Yu to name it. Gang Ji Jong Ya Gola Yatin Manna or the Yato Yukujo Gam Nao. For $1,000 we'll call it Gamgao Golden Cow. The colour of $1,000 is golden and you know in the financial sector cow it's always the symbol of money. So golden cow is the biggest amount of money $1,000. Hola Gama Gaio Yu Nidi Heng Gong Tong Tin Yo Guan Ge Jok Yu Le Jung Yi Habingola After introducing all of this Hong Kong money slang, which one is your favourite? For me, the most favourite slang is $100 Yi Gao So and Hong Sam Yu Red Fish because I will still use this in my daily life and I love eating fish which is exactly the same design and same color as $1000. Next time we'll introduce more about the Hong Kong slangs. See you next time.