On an evening of playing the ‘board’ game Taboo (Singapore version) with cousins in Singapore, I begin exploring slang differences between Malaysia and Singapore, of the same language.
If a football team is rubbish, you indicate they’re so rubbish that they’re unheard of. For example, ‘Arsenal? Pekak team ah.’
If a football play takes bribe, he ‘keylong.’
When someone is lame, he is a slengek. Or kental (not kentel or poyo).
If someone is eksyen, dia ‘step.’
When men are chit chatting aimlessly not saying anything of significance, they ‘bebual konek.’
When a group of ppl wanna chill out, they ‘lek one corner.’ Sometimes ‘dekat bawah block. Void deck ah.’
Ah I got some tambahan for the Sgpore lingo tweets I did earlier. Bedek means tipu. Lincah w/c KL has but they actlly use it day to day.
Instead of ordering your drink w/ the mamak, it’s ‘mama.’ Without the ‘k’.
Instead of wtv or ‘aku tak kisah’ they say ‘sebarang’ or ‘sembarang.’
Other terms tht they use, KL also knows except they still use it. Old school. Like borak or temberang for lie, sepatu (shoe), kocek (pocket)
When telling their friend ‘call me if anything,’ they say ‘eh ape ape nanti picit eh.’ Picit bcz u picit the button of ur phone 2 call.
Bodek btw does not mean the same as KL, which is to suck up. Bodek in Sgpore means the mans thing. The tht one la. His tht one. U know? Pantat also does not mean the same in KL, where it means the womans thing. The tht one. U know? In Sgpore it means ass. Bontot. Unisex.
It’s not ‘aku cakap kau, aku tak mau’. It is ‘aku bilang kau, aku tak mau.’ Bilang is to say, not just count as in ‘bilangan’ in KL.
In KL we say sial. In Sgpore it is ‘siol’ or ‘sia.’ But due to slang, and also internet, some use ‘siak’ then ‘zark.’ Both rooted fr ‘sia.’
It is ‘anting-anting’ still. Not ‘subang’ for earrings (all types).
Some still say ‘motokar.’ Not kereta. Ranjang. Not katil.
This is 1 tht I often use w/c I blame granaunts for. That is, instead of mungkin, it is ‘barangkali.’
A muscle man, is an Abang Body. Also known sometimes as Abang Ketiak. Cause of how their arms are like, outward?
‘Etc etc’ is ‘gedebak gedebuk.’
Murtabak Singapore is Murtabak.
When u say ‘karipap’ in Sgpore, you’re referring to what KL knows as ‘karipap Sgpore.’ What KL knows as ‘karipap’, Sgpore says ‘epok-epok.’
In Sgpore, it’s not ‘syok’. It is ‘shiok.’ Or more aptly, ‘shiok seh.’
Pepatah tends to be quite popular among older folks when it comes to making jabs at one another. ..
Recently uncle playing cards complained, ‘tak shiok main ni terup,saiz kecik.’ Granaunt said ‘orang tak reti joget, salahkan lantai senget.’
To those following tweets re Sgpore BM slang/lingo. My familiarity comes fr d amount of time spent here since lama. Like..Zaman Jahiliyyah.
Scrambler motorbikes are popular in Sgpore. KTM the bike maker is a popular brand. If u own a KTM n go to a popular hangout joint, u …. Are certain to pick up a chick. Therefore, bikes by KTM, is also known as Kenderaan Tumpang Minah. (Minah is female for Mats)…Obviously. But more importantly, they’re jst Mats here. Not Mat Rempit.
Rabak, to mean drastic. Teruk, not necessarily in the negative sense of the word. Like ‘that’s just bad man.’
