Thursday, January 26, 2006

I know Manglish okay.........it's just a little rusty, that's all.

Manglish (or sometimes Malglish) is the colloquial
version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia
and it is a portmanteau of the word Malay and English.
The language shares substantial linguistic similarities
with Singlish in Singapore. In real essence, Manglish
and Singlish are one and the same although there are
a few slang words that exist in one and not in another.
For all practical purposes, Manglish and Singlish are
subsets of the same group.

From wikipedia.com

1. "lah" - Often used at the end of sentences, used to
affirm a statement (similar to 'of course'), usually ends
with an exclamation mark.
Eg. "Don't be an idiot lah!"

2. "mah" - Used at the end of sentences, used to
affirm a sentence, but not as strongly as "lah".
Eg. "She's like that mah.."

3. "nah" - Derived from the Malay expression, "Nah!".
Used when giving something to another person.
Eg. "Nah, take this!"

4. "meh" - Used when asking a question, especially
when one is skeptical of something.
Eg. "Really meh?"

5. "liao" - Means 'already'.
Eg. "No more liao."

6. "ah" - Used at the end of sentences, unlike 'meh'
the question is rhetorical. Eg. "Why is he like that ah?"
Can also be used to when asking a genuine question.
Eg. "Is that true ah?"
Besides that, some people use it when referring to a
subject before making a comment(often used to make
a negative comment).
Eg. "My brother ah, always disturb me!"

7. "lor" - Used when explaining something.
Eg. "Like that lor!"

8. "leh" - Used to soften an order, making it less harsh.
Eg. "Give me that leh."

9. "one" - Used as an emphasis at the end of a sentence.
Eg. "Why is he so naughty one?"

10. "what" - Unlike the British/Americans, the word 'what'
is often used as an exclamation mark, not just to ask
a question.
Eg. "What! How could you do that?"

11. "got" - Used as a literal translation from the Malay
word 'ada'. The arrangement of words are often also literally
translated.
Eg. "You got anything to do?"
("Kamu ada apa-apa nak buat?"). This particular particle is
widely abused in Manglish, mainly because of the difficulty
for the Manglish speaker of comprehending the various
correct uses of the English verb 'to have'. Therefore, 'got' is
substituted for every tense of the verb.
Eg. "I got already/got/will got my car from the garage."

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