B oth the Basic Law and the one country, two systems formula agreed on between China and Britain give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy following its return to the mainland. Kwok Wing-hang believes the White Paper (a government policy document) which central government leaders released last week breaks the promise of a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong. He said: "Are they trying to renegade their promise?" He used the word "renegade" in the wrong way. The word "renegade" is normally used as a noun although it can also be used as an adjective. As a noun it means a person who betrays, or turns against, his own country or organization. Similar words are traitor, rebel, and turncoat.
Kwok Wing-hang used the word wrongly, and he also used it as a verb. What he should have said is: "Are they trying to renege on their promise?" The verb "renege" means to go back on or break a promise. A similar word is revoke. A person who reneges on a promise is a reneger (noun) although this word is not often used. Pan-democrats often accuse mainland leaders of reneging on their promises of democracy for Hong Kong. The words "renege" and "renegade" have different meanings but have almost similar spellings. That is why it is easy to mix them up.
* * *
我以前就曾說過，即使操流利英語的人，有時也不免說錯了而不自知。我有時也在電視節目上犯了錯，自己也不知道。在立法會代表法律界的郭榮鏗，能操流利英語。他是一位大律師，在倫敦國王學院取得法律學位，半帶英式口音跟港式口音。上星期在一個談論中央就香港發出白皮書（White Paper）的英語電台訪問中，他就混淆了兩個字。
基本法以至中國與英國所協議的一國兩制，都給予香港在回歸後享有高度自治。郭榮鏗認為中央上星期所發表的白皮書（White Paper，政府發表的政策文件），損壞了香 港的高度自治。他說：他們是否嘗試renegade他們的承諾?他用錯了renegade這個字，renegade通常作名詞用，雖然有時也會作形容詞用。作名詞用時，是指變節、背叛自己國家或組織的人，類似意思的字有traitor、rebel和turncoat。
郭榮鏗錯用了這個字，還把它當動詞用。他本身要說的應是"Are they trying to renege on their promise?"動詞renege是解不遵守或違反承諾，類近的字是revoke。違反（reneges）承諾的人就是reneger（名詞），但這個字並不常用。泛民不時會指責中央領導違背（reneging on）當初承諾予香港的民主。Renege和renegade這兩個字有着不同意思，但串法很類似，因此很容易就會混淆。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=289821§ion_name=wtt&kw=126