Time to retire “the captioned subject”

Today I want to talk about a common expression in Hong Kong official writing: “the captioned X” (where X is a noun like study, topic, application etc). Here is an example:

     Resumption of Original Traffic Arrangements on Chi Fu Road

•  […] Appropriate traffic aids / signage will be provided at the time to guide motorists for the captioned resumption of traffic arrangements.

Here, “the captioned resumption” is intended to mean something like “the resumption previously mentioned in the heading of this document”. Similarly, in the next two examples, the words study and application have previously appeared in the headings of the two documents:

• This paper is to consult Members on the scope of the captioned Study and the stages of consultation prior to finalisation of the draft study brief and invitation of expression of interests from Consultants to undertake the Study.​
• On 3.12.2013, the applicant submitted a revised traffic impact assessment report to support the captioned application.

The problem with this usage is that it is completely different from the way the word caption is used in modern standard English. Its normal usage nowadays is to mean “a short piece of text placed under or beside a picture to provide information about it”. Thus what you see below is a picture with a caption, or a captioned picture: 
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When we say this is a captioned picture, we mean that this is a picture with a caption attached.  This is very different from talking about “the captioned Study” – which clearly does not mean “a study with a caption attached”!

As noted, the Hong Kong usage of “the captioned X” carries the sense of “the X previously mentioned in the heading”. This seems to have developed from an older sense of the word caption, associated particularly with US English, where it can refer to “the heading, especially of an article or document” (Merriam-Webster). This usage is uncommon in US English, and largely absent from British English. What’s more, the use of captioned to mean “as referred to in the heading” is unknown in either variety of English: it appears to be pure Hong Kong English!

It is time to retire this usage from Hong Kong official and business writing – and fortunately, the retirement process is not difficult. In most cases, it is unnecessary to use the expression anyway, as readers will automatically assume that you are referring to the heading of the document unless you specifically tell them otherwise:
     Resumption of Original Traffic Arrangements on Chi Fu Road

•  […] Appropriate traffic aids / signage will be provided at the time to guide motorists for the resumption of traffic arrangements.

If however you feel that you MUST refer back to the heading, then a good way of doing so is to use an expression like “previously mentioned” or “mentioned above”:

• This paper is to consult Members on the scope of the Study mentioned above and the stages of consultation prior to finalisation of the draft study brief and invitation of expression of interests from Consultants to undertake the Study.

What about aforementioned? This word is still current in English but has a high level of formality. In general, I would recommend that you select ‘previously mentioned’ or ‘mentioned above’ instead.