Tsang Wai-hung pronounced the word as “sub judis”.

Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung made a pronunciation mistake last week that surprised me.迷你倉將軍澳 I was surprised because he has spent 35 years in the police force. He was even sent to London to work with the British police for three years. Such an experienced policeman should know how to pronounce the word "sub judice". It is a Latin word that means a legal case that is already being considered by a judge. For example, if the police have charged a woman for beating her domestic helper and the case has reached the court, then it is sub judice. In places like Hong Kong, Britain and Australia, once a case becomes sub judice, the media is not allowed to comment on it except to report on what is said in court. The sub judice rule is not as strict in the US, where the constitution protects free speech. The word "sub judice" can be pronounced either as "sub judisi" or "sub judikay", in which case the "c" sound in "judice" becomes a "k" sound. But Tsang Wai-hung pronounced the word as "sub judis". He pronounced it incorrectly when he told reporters he could not comment on the case of a woman who had badly beaten her Indonesian maid because the case was sub judice. Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim made what many people would consider a mistake while explaining the government's decision to use the Queen's Hill site in Fanling for housing instead of a private university. He told the media his 24小時迷你倉ureau would help educational organizations find another site when they decided on "alternate plans". What he meant was his bureau would help the educational organizations when they had decided on "different plans" now that the Queen's Hill site is no longer available. Therefore, instead of "alternate" he should have said "alternative". The word "alternate" means "every other" or "happening in turns". For example, if you work every other day, it means you work on alternate days. The word "alternative" means having a choice between two or more possibilities. Americans use "alternate" to mean "alternative" but this is considered wrong in British English.?? 警務處處長曾偉雄上星期讀錯了一個字，令我頗為意外。我感意外，因為他已經效力警隊三十五年了，甚至曾被派往倫敦，與英國警隊工作了三年。這樣一個資深的警務人員，應該很清楚怎去讀sub judice這個字吧。這是一個拉丁字，指已在審理的司法案件。例如，要是警方起訴那位虐打家傭的女人，案件已提交法院審理，那麼此案就是sub judice。 像香港、英國和澳洲這些地方，一旦案件進入司法程序，正在審理中（sub judice），傳媒便不可再作評論，除非是報道法庭的消息。這個司法程序（sub judice）的規例，在美國並不那麼嚴格，因為憲法保障言論自由。Sub judice可讀作"sub judisi" 或 "sub judikay"，"judice" 中的c會被讀成k音。但曾偉雄卻把這個字讀作"sub judis"。當他跟記者說，他不能評論那個女人虐打印尼女傭的案件，因為案件已進入司法程序（sub judice）時，他就讀錯了這個字。 教育局局長吳克儉解釋把粉嶺皇后山地段用作興建公屋而非私立大學時，亦犯了個錯誤，大概許多人都會認同。他跟傳媒說，若辦學團體採取了"alternate plans"，教育局亦會協助他們尋覓其他地方。他的意思是，皇后山已不再可用，當辦學團體採取了另外的方案（different plans），教育局會幫助他們。因此，他要說的應該是alternative而不是alternate。Alternate的意思是間隔或交替的，例如，若你隔天工作，你便是work on alternate days。Alternative則是多個不同的選擇。美國人會把alternate來當作alternative的意思，但英式英語則會將之視為錯誤的。mickchug@gmail.com 迷你倉旺角