LINE Sticker: Singaporean Moon Special

Learn Singlish with LINE Stickers

LINE Sticker: Singaporean Moon Special (Free)

Moon learns to express himself like a true Singaporean! Spice up your chats with this set of special edition stickers. Available till July 31, 2014. 

"Singlish" stands for Singapore + English. It refers to the Singaporean Slang. 

The 4 major racial groups in Singapore comprises of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian. Hence our culture is very much influenced by a mixture of the 4 races. 

Singlish is a mixture of Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien (Chinese Dialect) and English. 

When I saw the release of the new Singaporean edition of LINE Stickers, I was elated! Hence without further ado, I shall proceed to conduct my mini "lesson" on Singlish and everything about being a Singaporean :)



The typical "Mind My Own Business" aka nonchalant  / heck care attitude of some Singaporeans. How apathetic!

The Ultimatum...

Whenever Singaporeans or your Singaporean boyfriend says they are on their way, never take their words 100%. They might be dawdling and goofing around at home and you might end up waiting for a few hours... *OUCH!*

LEH (lay)
Yet another Singlish tag, similar in usage to "Lah", but which adds a slightly quizzical tone to the sentence. "I didn't know Ah Beng was like that, leh."

You always tell your peers "Relax Leh" as a notion for them to calm down whenever they are too tensed up for anything...

AH THEN?/ ARBO/ARBUTHEN / ABUDEN
The Singlish equivalent for "of course" or "duh!".
"Ah then?" is the sarcastic response given to blindingly obvious questions or statements.
Somehow, it evolved into "arbuthen" sometime during the 1980's (possibly a deliberate mispronunciation of "Ah, but then?"), and has now become "argo".
1. Ah Beng: "Eh, your void deck so clean and new, your constituency kena upgrading, ah?"Ah Seng: "Ah then?"
2. Ah Lian: "Wah, see you got wear so swee-swee... confirm you tonight go pak tor, lor!" (Judging by how prettily you're dressed, you must have a date tonight.)Ah Hway: "Arbuthen?"
3. Ali: "Eh, your exam finish oreddy, ah? I see you like very free lai dat."Ah Lee : "Arbo!" 

SWEE / SWEE-SWEE
Hokkien for "pretty" or "beautiful". Also used to describe something as properly or correctly done.
1. "My best friend's girlfriend is damn swee, man. I also want to kau. How?"
2. "Wah lau! Your best friend's girlfriend also want to kau? Damn buay (not) swee, man!"
3. "Eh, since you volunteer to do this, try not to cock-up huh? Better do swee-swee little bit..."
(Since you volunteered to do this, try not to screw it up. You'd better do it properly.)

TIAM (ti-ahm)
From the Malay word "diam", meaning "quiet" or "silent", and co-opted into Singlish Hokkien.
"Tiam lah, I dowan to hear any more kau peh kau bu".

KENA
Malay term which denotes that something has happened. Closest English approximation is "to get".
1. "He kena scolded by the teacher." (He was scolded by the teacher.)
2. "He kena whack by Ah Beng." (He got hit by Ah Being.)

ARROW
To delegate somebody to perform a task. Generally used only if the task is unpleasant or boring. Derives from the Army or civil service practice of stamping a tiny arrow next to the name of the person in official documents."
1. "Wah lau, I kena arrow clean toilet!"
2. "So suay, I was just in the office, den he come and arrow me type his document."

PANG GANG (放工)
Derived from Hokkien Dialect meaning "Dismiss from Work".
It is something worth looking forward to for Singaporeans to be able to be return home after a day of hard work. 

WAH LAN / WAH LAN EH / LAN EH (wah lahn)
Hokkien term which can be loosely translated as "Oh Penis" (Swear Word).
Probably the most common Singlish expression of all, it is used in much the same way as "oh my goodness", "wow", or "damn!", depending on the tone used, and the context.
More polite variants include "Wah Lau" and "Wah Piang".
1. "Wah lan eh! How can you do this sort of thing to me?"
2. "My first thought when I saw her was 'wah lan eh'."
3. "Lan eh, I ask you to do this sort of simple-simple thing, you can also cock up!"

ALAMAK
A Malay expression of dismay, surprise or alarm that has long been rumoured to mean "Allah's mother" but more likely comes either from the Arabic "Allah Ma'ak", meaning, "God be with you" or "Allah maaf kar" meaning "God forgive you".
"Alamak! Why you go and do this sort of stupid thing?"

STEADY
Used either as a compliment or as an exhortation to calm down.
Super Bengs may pronounce it "stay-lee".
1. “You managed to pok Ah Lian? You damn steady lah!”
2. “So you became a prefect? Steady, da!”

In the 1970s hooligans used to whistle at pretty girls on the street to woo them.

SHACK
To be extremely tired.
Not to be confused with “shag” (the British colloquialism for having sex) even though it’s often misspelled that way in Singapore.
“I shagged so much last weekend, that I’m totally shacked, man.”

SIAN (see-en)
A wonderfully concise Hokkien adjective which conveys boredom, weariness, frustration and emptiness. The English equivalent would be "ennui".
1. “My job is damn sian, man.”
2. “Wah lau eh, I do A-maths, do until sian oreddy.”

Bojio
Hokkien Dialect which refers to the act of not inviting your friend to go out together.
"You went to Starbucks today? Bojio!"

Most interpretations are extracted from: http://www.talkingcock.com/, do visit the website to increase your knowledge of the Singlish language!

P.S.
Find this post amusing?? Please stay tuned to my future musings by clicking the icons below:

x♥x♥