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It’s just lingo lah

June 21st, 2009

With me back in Singapore, blogposts from Benjamin will be even less frequent as he has to send new photos to me for retouching, resizing and uploading before he writes a post.  It doesn’t help that he’s sans-camera too as he felt it made more sense for me to hold on to the camera here since I use it more often.  And with me working full-time now, I don’t even have time to sit down to a leisurely meal.  In fact, even spending 15 minutes to cook instant mee (noodles) seems a luxury!  So I actually have a huge archive of images of Ben’s creations, plus some of our dining experiences in Dubai and Singapore, that are waiting for me to go through.

And I still hope to blog a bit too!  I’m no expert when it comes to tastes, cooking styles and other culinary stuff.  But I do enjoy eating!  So if I do post anything about places I’ve dined or particular foods I’ve tried, don’t take it as a professional review, but just my two-cents’ worth.  I’m actually more particular about service than food.  Flash a smile and suddenly a simple cheeseburger looks like a tower of trans-fatty goodness!  Of course, I don’t go to a restaurant expecting to be treated like a princess lah, but I do appreciate friendliness, competency, and at least some humility if one is less than competent.

So anyway, here’s a glossary of terms that I may use quite often to describe food or my dining adventures.  A glossary is required as I often use Malay, Hokkien (a Chinese dialect) or Singlish/Manglish (Singaporean/Malaysian English slang) terms to express myself.  You’ll also notice that the word ‘damn’ is used very often as an ‘amplifier’.

makan – 1. eat [Malay verb] Example: What d’you wanna makan later? 2. food [noun, slang; proper noun for 'food' in Malay is makanan] Example: Got good makan there or not?

shiok – probably the best way and most commonly used Singlish/Manglish term to describe good food. Example: Wah, this burger is damn shiok!

jiak – eat [Hokkien verb]  In Chinese culture, we usually invite our elders to jiak (or the Mandarin or other dialect’s equivalent).  Example: Ah Ma jiak (Grandma, eat).

whack – eat with gusto. Although a proper English word meaning beat or hit, we regularly use this word when describing how one eats. Example: Wah, he whacked the burger damn fast man!

teruk – bad/terrible [Malay adjective] Example: The service is damn teruk.

tak jadi – not up to par, or unacceptable, or can’t make it [Malay term] Example: The service tak jadi lah.

cannot make it – [commonly used phrase in Singapore/Malaysia] same meaning as tak jadi.  Example: The service really cannot make it lah.

sedap – delicious or yummy [Malay adjective] Example: This burger is damn sedap!

kopi – coffee [Malay & Hokkien noun]

lah – lah is used to end most (but not all) sentences when speaking in Malaysia or Singapore.  Just a slang – sometimes it’s used to add stress to a point, and sometimes just to make a statement come across as casual or friendly.  It’s just something that’s uniquely Singaporean/Malaysian, so I find it hard to blog without sounding like myself, thus lah is a necessity!  Examples: No lah. Of course lah. Eat the burger lah!