Another "what does this mean?" question...

[Miles Crew]

In writing I keep running across the word 心水。 As far as I can tell it must be Cantonese-specific as I can't find it in any of my many Mandarin resources. As near as I can figure from context it seems to mean something like "opinion." Is that about right? is it a good a good, informal, spoken expression?

Maybe I'll just bump this thread from time to time with my own questions as they come to me, there are always tons until it comes time to actually ask... I hate to fill up the forum one question at a time!

[Miles Crew]

Also this one: 跟風

As in this found sentence regarding the movie [我左眼見到鬼]: [唔知大家有冇覺得有少少跟''見鬼''的風?]

The approximate meaning is apparent from context, but does it simply mean to imitate something, or doing so in order to cash in on success or a trend? An example or two would be helpful. And again, is this a phrase typically spoken? I like to read message boards as they contain a lot of informal language, but you never know.

[ppk]

跟风 means to follow the trend, do a look alike, or make a copy of certain fashion, trend. from ur sentence it means following the trend of japanese horror movie, particularly the movie 'the eye'. 'trend' or 'custom' or 'practices' is written as '风气' in chinese. '跟' is to follow. nowadays chinese terms have a tendency of going in even pairs so its usually made up of 2 or 4 words.

[Miles Crew]

Thanks. Does it always have a negative connotation, implying that something is merely an inferior imitator? Or can it be non-judgmental? For instance, does it work to say 雖然 Blackhawk Down 少少跟Saving Private Ryan既風﹐但我覺得呢套戲十分好睇。 Thanks.

[ppk]

yes it does have a little negative connotation and it does imply the imitator is somehow inferior. the positive version of it, is the chinese idiom 青出于蓝。the imitator did a better job than the original.

[me think]

For the "心水", I would treat it a "(best) choice(s) or favorite one(s)" rather than "opinion" since "心水" does NOT ONLY relate to someone's opinion. But more than that, it has the meaning of "favorable choice(s)" as well although it is usually used for asking/expressing someone's opinion.
Example:
呢件衫正合我心水。(expressing one's favor)

[me think]

Well...for the "跟風" thing, it has a negative connotation (to the imitator(s) only, but not the origin) and it must be a judgmental one.
For a positive meaning, you may use: 效法，仿效
If you wanna say something non-judgemental, try one of the following:
模仿，跟隨，追隨.
Example:
小孩子總愛模仿成年人的一舉一動。

[Miles Crew]

Hey thanks, 心水 is really useful. It's a lot more convenient than "my most liked [whatever]" Do you know if that's usable in Mandarin too?

[ppk]

no. its cantonese only...