Treasured lingo
Continuing from my lingo glitch the other day, I would like to jot down some cultural and language heritage nurtured from my KBian Mama. As mentioned, KBians normally called non-KBians as ‘orang darat’ (as my Papa is). Similarly, Kelantanese call non-Kelantanese as ‘orang luar’, hence, speaking non-Kelantanese dialect is said to ‘bercakap (bahasa) luar’, or to be exact, 'kkecek lua'.Opps, better get this straight first > I’m not inciting any ethnocentric debate here, just writing a part of our Malaysian colourful cultural facts for all to know/learn.
Okay, back to the topic. As we all know, language is a very dynamic element in life. It changes as we progress. Nevertheless, Mama always reminds us to speak in the proper manner, as all thru KBians do. Supposedly, (more in those yesterdays perhaps) KBians are more cultured and full of manners compared to others, especially the ‘orang darat’. Consequenty, KBians speak slightly in different style and lingo. I’m pretty sure this happens at most other places too, whereby people from the city or capitals speak in slightly different dialect and use different expressions, reflecting their cultural exposures and influences.
For instance: (sorry, I don't know how to use those phonetic symbols)
KBians: “weae” [sounds like ‘wear’ or ‘where’ with silent ‘r’]
Others: “yoa” [as ‘ya’ in standard BM, but sounds more like ‘your’, with diminish ‘r’]
{This is when replying to a call from someone, for instance, if someone calls me: “atookkkk”, I would reply: “weae”}
KBians: “heae” [sounds like ‘hair’, again with diminish ‘r’]
Others: “ho” [this is rather hard to put a similar sound phonetically, mmm…pass, sorry…any help please, SK?]
{This is like saying ‘ya’ in agreement to the other person’s statement}
KBians: “pekso” [from ‘kurang periksa’]
Others: “tok tau”['tak tahu']
Those 3 above are some of the main (basic) indicators of true Kbians when they speak (and other ‘supposedly cultured’ people). However, as more people emigrate to the capital, these words and expressions have rapidly vanished among the inhabitants, replaced by the more common ones, as spoken by the majority.
I guess, the most bizarre word that Mama still uses which I reckon only a handful of even KBians would know its meaning is ‘saka’ [sounds like ‘sa-car’, with diminish ‘r’, or similarly ‘pakai’ with silent ‘i’, or ‘pakar’ with silent ‘r’]. I shall leave to the readers to give me the answer (esp. dear SK); a little pop quiz. Bear in mind that even Mama doesn’t use this word as much as before (when we were small), simply due to its near extinction.
If one says that this is rather too complex (and funny perhaps), wait till I talk about our bahasa istana. That would be a totally alien lingo altogether.
posted by Atok @ 11:22:00 pm
