Many people in Hong Kong, for example, have access to the tool of English for communication, which they use quite comfortably with
one another when they are at school or in the office. It is considered strange, however, to use it in daily conversation. This contrasts
sharply with Singapore and India where, since the people around you may be native speakers of a variety of different languages,
English is used as a convenient lingua franca. Since most Hong Kongers also speak Cantonese, English is not necessary for
communication in the same way. At the same time, using English carries with it certain kinds of social meanings based partly on the
groups of people that use it such as teachers and other authority figures as well as non-Cantonese speaking “foreigners,” and so by
appropriating English into casual conversation with another Cantonese speaker, one might be claiming a certain affiliation with those
groups of people, or one might be thought by the people to whom one is talking to be claiming such an affiliation, to be “showing off,”
or, at the very least, to be acting unduly formal. This brings us to another point about which we will have a great deal to say later in this
book, the fact that when we appropriate and use particular cultural tools, we are not just claiming that we are particular kinds of people.
We are also making claims about other people and the kinds of groups they belong to.