Abstract
Previous research has shown that among English‐Cantonese bilingual students at the University of Hong Kong a mixture of Cantonese and English (MIX) is very common yet apparently disliked by its users. To examine this seeming conflict between attitudes and behaviour, a matched‐guise experiment was conducted. Results indicated hostility towards MIX but produced evidence that it is a useful, culturally‐neutral choice falling between English and Cantonese and that it may have covert status in this community.