I love reading the definitions people try to come up with for Singlish! It’s sometimes so funny just to read?! I was waiting for my Yoga class to attend yesterday and ended up looking like a fool when I started giggling to myself while reading a magazine (for the expats).
Here are my some of my favourites!
10. WAKE UP YOUR IDEA – Usually means “get a clue” or “stop dreaming”.
The possibilities of striking toto is next to none. Wake up your idea lor please!!
9. Anyhow Whack – Do something in a perfunctory manner, attempt something despite not knowing how to do it.
Shit, if you don’t know who to do it, don’t anyhow whack can…?!
8. SOLID – An adjective describing something or someone as being very impressive.
Wah, you got see him do that headstand? Damn solid lor!
7. YA YA PAPAYA – An arrogant person
All my life I’ve been telling my brother not to be such a yayapapayabanana and duckie to stop being so YA YA!
6. SHOW HALF BALL/Pang Pua Lup – To describe a girl who is revealing substantial cleavage.
Aiyah, you go pang pua lup, the durian man sure sell you cheap one. (Man, I have this obesession with Durians lately)
5. SELL BACKSIDE – A classic example of Singlish hyperbole. While it literally alludes to prostituting oneself, it is used in conjunction with any instance when one has to contend with hardship.
Aiyah, just quit your job lah. If cannot find another job, at most go sell backside lor.
3. SAHT/SHEN – Of uncertain provenance, it’s the local equivalent of “cool” or “groovy”.
Zhen Shen! Wa, ni hen saht neh! *giggles*
2. Sian Jit Pua – Describes something as boring. “Jit pua” is Hokkien for “half”. Put together, and the phrase can be loosely translated as “too boring by half”, meaning it is extremely boring.
Wah lau, come all the way here, the damn shop close… sian jit pua…..
and… my absolute favourite!
1. FUCK SPIDER – Of uncertain origin, this term often connotes extreme frustration. The general consensus is that it originates from the Army (the source of many creative Singlish phrases), where a “spider” was dirt in the barrel of one’s rifle. If during inspection, you found a “spider” in your rifle, you’d have to strip it and clean it all over again. Hence, “fuck spider” would either be a common expletive amongst recruits, or an exhortation by an annoyed inspecting officer.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now I will go ask the idiot who sold me the wrong calling card at Cheers to go fuck spider. #$&(#&$#($*
Hahahaha! Sorry, the post was supposed to end there. But really, literally, FUCK spider? A spider? Hahahaha!
K k, enough.