S ome readers have said it is inaccurate to call the civil disobedience movement Occupy Central. I agree. As I have said before, it is a misnomer to call it Occupy Central because the protesters have occupied Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok but not Central. The word "misnomer" means a wrong or inaccurate use of a term. It is a misnomer to call Benny Tai Yiu-Ting the leader of Occupy Central because he and the other two original organizers of the civil disobedience protest are now playing second fiddle to the students. The expression "play second fiddle" means to be in a less important position than others. Some people have said Occupy Central should be re-named the Umbrella Movement. I agree because the umbrella has now become the symbol of the civil disobedience protest.
The word symbol has several meanings but used this way it means a sign or a mark that represents something. For example, in addition to the umbrella, a yellow ribbon has also become a symbol of the civil disobedience movement. I'll refrain from expressing my views about the Umbrella Movement here but I do want to say that I think it is wrong to demonize the whole police force for the bad behavior of some policemen. When you demonize someone, you criticize that person as evil or very bad. The word "demonize" comes from the word "demon", which means an evil spirit or devil. I do not think the Hong Kong police force is an evil spirit.
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自佔中開始，我便收到許多讀者電郵，表達他們對公民抗命運動的看法，有些則問到我的看法。我已在自己的電視節目和其他文章上表達了對佔中的看法，但卻努力避免（refrain from）在這裏表達意見，因為這個專欄文章的目的，本是為解釋英語的運用。若你 refrain from doing something，即是說你抑制自己去做某事。對於那些一進港鐵車廂便站在車門邊，而非移至別處讓其他人都能上車的，我總是極力抑制住（refrain from）自己別去推開這些自私精。
有些讀者說，把這場公民抗命運動稱為「佔領中環」是不準確的。我同意。正如我之前所說，把它稱為「佔中」是個誤稱（misnomer），因為示威者佔領的是金鐘、銅鑼灣和旺角，而非中環。Misnomer解作錯誤或不準確的名稱。將戴耀廷稱為佔中的領袖，同樣名不副實（misnomer），因為他和另外兩位原初的公民抗命示威主辦者，現在已經充當學生們的副手（playing second fiddle）了。習語play second fiddle意思是比其他人位居次職。有些人說，佔中應改名為「雨傘運動」。我同意，因為雨傘現已成為公民抗命示威的標誌（symbol）。
Symbol這個字有幾個意思，用在這裏則解作記號或代表某物的符號。譬如，除雨傘之外，黃絲帶也成為公民抗命運動的標誌（symbol）。我會避免（refrain from）在這裏抒發對雨傘運動的見解，但我倒想說說，我認為因着某些警員的劣行，而妖魔化（demonize）整個警隊是不對的。當你demonize某人，就是你將那人批評為邪惡或極其差劣的。Demonize來自demon這個字，就是惡魔或魔鬼。我不認為香港警隊是惡魔。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=307698§ion_name=wtt&kw=126