Tuesday October 9, 2012
'Cannot, lah' and more Malaysian oddities
By PEGGY TAN
A UNIQUE feature of our local spoken English includes the employment of the word “can” or “cannot” often with a “lah” added on. Visitors to Malaysia can’t fail to notice how addicted we are to the word “can”.
Malaysians are quite happy to forget about the use of the word as a verb and tend to use it as a positive or negative interjection, or even as a question. Thus when we are asked by someone, “Do you have time to take me to the tourist spots?”, a Malaysian may answer “can!” or “cannot-lah” in place of the conventional “Yes, of course” or “I am afraid not, I am busy”. A foreigner may think that a rowdy “can-can” dance is about to take place with our liberal use of the word!
Whatever you may think belongs up here, it’s certainly cool in Frasier’s Hill. Another interesting example is the use of the word “spice” or “spicy”. A Malaysian thinks primarily of food which is liberally sprinkled with chillies, or other ingredients which have the effect of making his eyes water and his skin burn. While the British would usually ask if you prefer your curry “hot”, Malaysians would ask if you like it “spicy”.
In Britain, the word “spice” is not primarily thought of as meaning “flavoured with chillies and other such ingredients”. For instance, take the brand name of a certain Western male cosmetic. When men splash themselves with “Old Spice” aftershave lotion, they expect themselves to smell fragrant, not to make their skin burn!
The poet Tennyson wrote:
And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad
And the musk of the rose is blown
Indeed, the spice trade in Asia was founded not just on chillies, but also sweet-smelling preservatives such as cinnamon and star anise.
Things can be odd, too, when Malaysians use words with the wrong meaning. Here are some common mistakes:
Wrong: Can you borrow me five ringgit?
Correct: Can you lend me five ringgit?
Wrong: He is living in Hotel Odeon. (The word refers to a place where one lives for a long time, as in a home)
Correct: He is staying in Hotel Odeon. (For a place one stays for a short time)
Wrong: The state of Malaysia. (This is a country)
Correct: The state of Malacca.
Wrong: They learn History and Mathematics. (Learning is used for skills such as cooking or driving)
Correct: They study History and Mathematics.
Wrong: They ate a lot of fishes for dinner.
Correct: They ate a lot of fish for dinner.
Wrong: The lady goes marketing to get food for her family. (Marketing means to sell something)
Correct: The lady goes shopping to get food for her family.
Other oddities in written Malaysian English include:
Wrong: Its cool in Fraser’s hill. (Its signifies something that belongs to the hill, eg: “its lush greenery”)
Correct: It’s cool in Fraser’s hill. (It’s is a contraction of “it is”)
Wrong: Keep quite!
Correct: Keep quiet!
Wrong: His work is worst than yours. (A superlative adjective)
Correct: His work is worse than yours. (A comparative adjective)
Wrong: They walked passed the shop. (The past tense of the verb “pass”)
Correct: They walked past the shop. (This is a preposition. “Past” usually follows a verb eg: “He ran past the garden”)
Wrong: The lost of her handbag really stressed her.
(This is the past tense of “lose” and is a verb)
Correct: The loss of her bag really stressed her. (This is a noun)
>Peggy Tan is a lecturer by day, a writer by night, and a mountain climber and scuba diver on weekends.
Her greatest challenge is to juggle motherhood, wifely duties, a career and a passion for writing.
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