terms
written: on Saturday, Mar. 16, 2002

As I am tired of constantly typing explanations of certain slang/local terms I occasionally use, I have decided to come up with this brilliant idea of having a page with those terms, their meanings, and their pronounciations, so that my beloved readers (ha, ha), wouldn't find themselves going, "What the hell?" every other slang/etc. Okay?

ang mo: Caucasians. Can also refer to the English language. (As in, I can call a Caucasian an ang moh or I can say I speak ang moh, as in I speak English. Get it?)

wah lau ey: taboo Expression of 1) anger; 2) disappointment; 3) disapproval; 4) shock, and any other negative feelings you have under the sun.
Pronounce: I don't know how to do this.
Dialect: Hokkien. "wah lau" is the distorted way of saying either the guy's penis or urine in Hokkien (I forget which). In short, it is the Hokkien equivalent of "oh my god".

O Levels: GCE O Levels, the equivalent of the GCSEs. GCE stands for "General Certificate of Education". Very important exam which every 16-year-old would take at the end of their Secondary 4 year (unless you're in the Normal stream). It is basically your ticket to the future, so if you mess it up, you can kiss your dreams good-bye. Unless you're rich.

kena sai: "Shit", "bloody shit", "fucking shit", and any other variations of the word "shit". I don't know about other people, but I use it in speech when something bad happens. For example: The Lord of the Rings not winning Best Ensemble Cast at the recent Screen Actors Guild awards. So you just say, "Kena sai! What the fuck shit is this?!"
Pronounce: Kannah sigh.
Dialect: Not sure. "sai" is Hokkien for 'shit' though.

ginseng: A Chinese herb. It's vile.

lau sai: Diarrhoea-like shit. It means diarrhoea. I know, how very crude, but hey.
Pronouce: Lao sigh.
Dialect: Hokkien

cheem: A very tough situation/exam/word/etc. When someone says your English/etc is "cheem", they mean that your vocabulary is extensive and they are too stupid to understand you.
Pronounce: What do you think?
Dialect: Hokkien

kena: Um. When someone says he/she kena something, like kena pregnant, for example, it means she got pregnant. Another example: "I kena scolded by the teacher." Translation: "I got scolded by the teacher." Understand?
Pronounce: kannah.
From: Malay.

bo chap: Don't give a shit.
Pronounce: It's definitely not 'chap'. It's like, charp. But don't roll the 'r'.
Dialect: Hokkien.

talk cock: Talk nonsense/crap/shit/etc. Basically talking no sense.
Etymology: I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the proverb/idiom "a cock and bull story", or whatever.
Example: "Stop talking cock!"
In other words: "Stop talking nonsense!"

pon/pon tang (teng?): Cut lessons/school.
Language: I made a mistake. It's not Hokkien. It's Malay. I suck.
Example: She ponned school today and kena caught by the teacher, ha ha ha.

pai kia: Literally bad child. Used to describe an unlawful teenager.
Dialect: Hokkien.

dao: Unfriendly.
Dialect: I don't think so. My parents have never heard of it. I think it's just a slang used among teenagers. But I don't know.
Example: Wah lau, that guy damn dao, pass me never even say 'harlow'. ("Man, that guy is so unfriendly. He didn't even say 'hello' when he walked pass me.")

lan sai: Literally 'lousy like shit'. 'Lan' = lousy; 'sai' = shit.
Dialect: Hokkien, obviously!
Example: My Maths result is damn lan sai lah. Failed like sai lah. Don't talk about it already lah. ("I did like shit for Maths and don't want to talk about it.")

suay: Unlucky
Pronounce: Sway
Dialect/Language: I don't know
Eg: Use your brains lah kena sai...

football: For the uninitiated, I am referring to what Americans would call soccer. I call it football not to confuse, but because I think it suits the game better than 'soccer', and because 'soccer' is a stupid word. It is real football as the players die-die have to use their feet to play, except for the goalkeeper who can use his/her hands. I would go on about how I think the word 'football' is not suitable for American football, but I shan't for I don't want to offend. And anyway, it's a waste of my time.

sian: Bored, boring, restless.
Dialect: Hokkien.

gahmen: Mispronounciation of 'government' by very intelligent Spore-rens.

siam: Get out of the way.
Pronouce: Not sy-am. See-ahm. Dialect: Hokkien

rojak: A kind of dish where a lot of ingredients are thrown into the frying pan and cooked together. Or something to that extent.

shiok: Cool.

yosha: Cry of jubilation. Japanese equivalent of 'yes!'

powderful: Deliberate and Singaporean mispronounciation of the word 'powerful'.

kakkoi: Japanese for 'handsome'.

kawaii: Japanese for 'cute'.

cao da: Hokkien for 'burnt'.

arigatou kami-sama: 'arigatou' is Japanese for 'thank you'. 'kami-sama' is Japanese for 'god'. It's a direct translation from English to Jap and I probably got it wrong but hey.

ike: Japanese for 'go'. You know, during basketball matches you shout 'go [insert name of team you're supporting]!' in hopes that they win? Yeah. In Japanese it goes, "Ike ike Shohoku!" (Go Shohoku!)

baka: Japanese for 'idiot'. 'baka Yelen' means 'stupid Yelen'. That is, if I'm not wrong.

shounen-ai: 'Boy-love'. 'Shounen' is Jap for 'boy' and 'ai' is Jap AND Chinese for 'love'. In fanfic terms, it means the fic contains a male/male pairing. Homosexuality, in simpler terms. (Note: 'MitRu' is short for Mitsui/Rukawa. It denotes a shounen-ai/yaoi pairing. And order matters too. In the case of a MitRu, Mitsui is the dominant one, while Rukawa is the submissive one. Similarly, a RuMit obviously means the opposite. There are specific Japanese terms for it but I can't remember what they are right now.)

bishounen: Japanese for 'pretty boy'.

GP: "General Paper", a.k.a. "General Pointlessness", a.k.a. simply English. Compulsory subject. I hate it.

sugoi: Japanese for 'wow', 'great', 'amazing', etc. Alternate it with 'sugei'.

cheena: A term used by bananas to describe very Chinese Chinese. I guess you won't understand unless you're one of us.

bananas: Westernised Chinese, like me.

chao: Hokkien. Literally means 'smelly'. We Chinese have a saying that goes something like, "Her face so damn smelly eh." That's a direct translation from the Chinese version, which I shan't bothering typing as you won't get it anyway, since you're reading this. To cut a long explanation short, a 'chao' face/expression/etc simply means that the person is looking pissed off.

JC: Abbreviated version of 'junior college', a.k.a pre-university education.

A Levels: Advanced Level. A step up from the 'O' Levels. That's what a person does when he goes to JC.

OGL: Orientation Group Leader.

diao: Taiwanese slang for 'cool'. Literal meaning, however, refers to the penis. Made popular by Jay Chou. At least, in my opinion.

before sunrise // before sunset


Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010