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    Singlish Phrases

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    Teemity
    This document provides translations from Singlish expressions to proper English. It lists 30 common Singlish terms or phrases along with their meanings, such as "act blur" meaning to pretend ignorance, "chope" meaning to reserve, and "lah" used as a tag at the end of statements. Many of the Singlish terms are derived from Hokkien, Malay, or Chinese phrases. The document serves as a guide for understanding Singlish slang terms and their standard English translations.

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    Singlish Phrases

    Uploaded by

    Teemity
    998 views2 pages
    This document provides translations from Singlish expressions to proper English. It lists 30 common Singlish terms or phrases along with their meanings, such as "act blur" meaning to pretend ignorance, "chope" meaning to reserve, and "lah" used as a tag at the end of statements. Many of the Singlish terms are derived from Hokkien, Malay, or Chinese phrases. The document serves as a guide for understanding Singlish slang terms and their standard English translations.

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    This document provides translations from Singlish expressions to proper English. It lists 30 common Singlish terms or phrases along with their meanings, such as "act blur" meaning to pretend ignorance, "chope" meaning to reserve, and "lah" used as a tag at the end of statements. Many of the Singlish terms are derived from Hokkien, Malay, or Chinese phrases. The document serves as a guide for understanding Singlish slang terms and their standard English translations.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    998 views2 pages

    Singlish Phrases

    Uploaded by

    Teemity
    This document provides translations from Singlish expressions to proper English. It lists 30 common Singlish terms or phrases along with their meanings, such as "act blur" meaning to pretend ignorance, "chope" meaning to reserve, and "lah" used as a tag at the end of statements. Many of the Singlish terms are derived from Hokkien, Malay, or Chinese phrases. The document serves as a guide for understanding Singlish slang terms and their standard English translations.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    A Guide to Proper English

    (translations from Singlish expressions)

    No. Singlish Expression Proper English


    1. Act blur Pretend to be ignorant, feign ignorance
    To pinpoint or pick on; To assign someone to an unwanted
    2. Arrow
    duty. "Why he arrow me to do this?"
    3. Blur English. Clueless. In a daze. Unaware of what is going on.

    4. Chope Reserve. "Don't take this seat, I choped it already."

    5. Double confirm Confirm and reconfirm. Used to emphasis the confirmation

    Pidgin English. Go backwards / Reverse. This actually


    6. Gostan
    originates from the nautical phrase "go astern".
    an aggressive, instigatory challenge. Or an expression of
    7. Got problem is it? annoyance when someone is disturbed. 'Do you have a
    problem?'
    Hokkien. Oh dear! Lit. "sapping strength". Used to describe
    Jia Lat
    8. a terrible situation. "Ah! You broke your leg!? Jia lat ah!
    How you play soccer later?"
    9. Kay poh busybody

    Kiah su / kiasu (literally "scared to lose/of loss") somebody who fears


    10.
    losing out

    11. Kena / kana to be afflicted with, to suffer (from)

    My England not
    12. My English is not powerful / good
    powderful!
    Hokkien exclamation denoting satisfaction, or enthusiastic
    endorsement.
    13. Ho Say
    Beng: "Eh, I belanja you makan tonight, okay?" Seng: "Ho
    say, ah!"
    Most basic and famous of Singlish expressions. Tagged as
    Lah! an exclamation usually (but not in questions). "Good lah!" /
    14.
    "Go home lah!" / "Ok lah!" / "Eat lah!" / "Cannot do it like
    this lah!"
    15. Liddat oso can! something can be done like that or in a certain manner
    The Singlish equivalent to "As if!" or "Yeah, right." An
    16. Like real
    expression of incredulity and disbelief.
    Malay term literally meaning "hole". It means "tip" or
    17. Lobang
    "opening" or "contacts".
    Hokkien for 'cat'. Describes someone who is very
    18. Ngeow
    malicious, nitpicky or tries to find fault.

    1
    Orbit / Obiang Someone or something that is gaudy or overly flamboyant
    19.
    in taste / out of fashion

    20. Pantang bad luck, being superstitious, superstitions

    21. Return back To give back. Direct translation from the Chinese phrase

    Sian Hokkien. Bored, tired, or sick of something. "I am so sian!


    22.
    Nothing to do, man!"

    23. Solid sia simply great, superb!

    24. stoned to daze out

    Suaku Hokkien. Not well informed or backward; a country


    25.
    bumpkin. Lit. "mountain tortoise".
    Talking nonsense / senselessly. Probably originated from
    Talk cock / tok kok
    26. the English expression "cock and bull story". "Don't tok
    kok lah! Where got like that one?"
    Ulu Malay. Used to describe a rural or remote area. Commonly
    27.
    found in road names around Singapore as well.
    inexplicably, 'very'. Usually employed with a clearly
    sarcastic tone.
    28. Very the
    Eg. "Wah lau eh, he ah, his armpit very the smelly, you
    know!"
    Used to describe undergoing extreme difficulty, intense
    suffering or great irritation. "Vomit" is often pronounced
    29. Vomit blood "womit".
    Ah Beng: "Yesterday, hor, I teach my son Maths, teach
    until vomit blood."
    30. Ya ya papaya An arrogant person.

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