問：「左膠」應譯做unrealistic leftist（不現實的左派分子）還是utopian leftist（只講理想的左派分子）？
答：「左膠」、「大中華膠」之類香港新詞，確實意思是什麼，我不清楚，只是直覺上認為那「膠」是「駵（陽具）」的諧音，而「左膠」等無非廣東駡人話「戇駵」的下流仿造詞。當然，我沒有考究，反正我不會用這樣的詞語。
讀者示下的兩個譯法，意思都很清楚，和「左膠」這類意思模糊的詈駡語不同，因此也不大貼切。也許，「左膠」和英文新詞leftard差不多，英文常用 -ard指「人」，帶貶義，原是hard的縮畧，例如bastard（雜種）、coward（膽小鬼）、dotard（昏憒的老頭）、 drunkard（酒鬼）、dullard（笨蛋）、laggard（行動緩慢者）等。He is better described as a leftard than as a socialist即「他與其說是個社會主義者，不如說是個左鳥」。
(先旨聲明，我是十分尊敬古德明老師的。雖然他是大中華膠，但猛批左膠大中華膠的，包括本人，絕大部份幾年前甚至幾個月前自己都是大中華膠，像古德明老師這種鑽研中文幾十年的人，自不能一朝一夕覺醒。其實他對本土派的批評已不算猛烈。)
你問一個「大中華膠」這兩個詞，自然不會有甚麼好事發生。其實大中華膠意思很清晰，就是把「大家都是中國人」這個價值觀置於其他一切之上的人。至於「左膠」確是含糊，一來你要明白「膠」這個字在高登的「真心膠」含意(很多左膠是真心相信那些理念的，不是個個都是共諜)；二來左膠狹義來說只是指「雙輝一葉」那種小資產階級卻對左翼思想有浪漫幻想的社運青年，但最廣義卻包括整個泛民和理非體系，跟本不算左翼。所以譯作 leftard 似乎太過惡毒； leftist 卻又有那個不是 unrealistic 或 utopian 的？
我也沒好氣，直譯 left plastic 算了。
What is left plastic?
This is a term in Hong Kong politics that was invented several years ago and gaining more public exposure recently. It is very difficult to give a precise translation as its meaning even in Chinese is somewhat ambiguous. It is a negative term. In a narrow sense, it refers to those (usually young) people participating in pro-democratic political movements who have a romanticized fantasy towards left wing philosophy (though, to be fair, all left wing philosophies are romantic fantasies...) and smuggle their left wing agenda into every political movement. In the context of HK politics, they, for example, portray mainland Chinese migrants as victims and believe local HK people have the "original sin" of being brought up in a capitalist world. (Curiously enough, they themselves often have a middle-class background and are beneficiaries of capitalism...) Their political agenda therefore coincides with the Chinese government's colonial policy. They (unlike some of their Western counterparts) are also very obsessed with non-violent, "alternative" way of protests: their protests involve demonstrating that "the people are weak" and beg for mercy from those in power.
A related term is "Greater Chinese plastic" which refers to those who believe that the principle "we (HK people and mainland Chinese) are all Chinese" must be held above everything else. For example this means we should allow unlimited immigration since if we are all Chinese it is not even immigration in the first place. The two groups of plastics have dominated the pro-democratic camp of HK politics for 30 years, effectively restraining all protests to manageable and acceptable levels.
"Plastic" originates on-line and sounds similar to (one of the many words that mean) "penis" in Cantonese, and this is where its derogatory meaning come from. However, "plastic" carries a more light-hearted sense, and means someone or something unbelievably stupid but also funny. For example, "true-hearted plastic" refers to someone, in an almost affectionate way, who is naive, or unaware of something that everyone else knows. In this context left plastic means those who are unaware of, or unwilling to believe, the catastrophic consequences of applying their left-wing ideology to HK.
