Khek/Hakka

["Dixie" <Dixie@singnet.com.sg>]

> Dear Charles,

> During those time some Hakkas in Malaysia were being called Kheks
> which meant rough Hakkas to other dialectal Chinese in our region.
> Actually we were not rough but tough.

Calling Hakkas 'Kheks' does not mean rough Hakkas or even derogatory. I
believe this is what most people in this part of the world understand.
It is just the way the Min dialect group (Hokkiens, Teochews, etc)
pronounce it. It is like the Chinese calling the Americans 'Meiguo Ren'. We
don't call them 'M-mei-ri-geng' or something like that.
However, officially, the Hakka term is used instead of Khek.
I believe in the earlier days, in Malaya, there were some differences
between different dialect groups, not only Hakkas and non-Hakkas, sometimes
even over little things. 
Today, in 1998, this has largely disappeared.

- Dixie