Malaysian English or Manglish is sometimes known as Rojak or Bahasa Rojak. We Malaysians can get really creative with our choices of word. Forget about proper vocabulary or grammar, it’s all good as long as we understand each other, right?
1) Whack
You are at a restaurant with friends waiting for food. Ah, it’s finally here! Without hesitation, someone will officiate the dinner by saying “So hungry! Let’s whack all the food.”
2) Tackle
Your buddy comes up to you and tells you that he met this beautiful lady whom he really likes. You’ll probably tell him to “Go and tackle her lah!”
3) Chop
You are about to submit an urgent document and so your colleague reminds you to “Chop ‘Urgent’ on the document.”
4) Action
If you go around flaunting how your boyfriend always brings you to expensive restaurants, or how many branded bags you own, then you’ll probably get snide remarks like “Wah… this fellow is so action!”
5) Blur
If you just happened to have a temporary lapse in judgement, your friends would probably tease you with “Why you so blur?”
6) Sound
Your colleague got a long face after meeting with her boss and you asked her why, she’d probably tell you “I just kena sound from the boss.”
7) Slumber
The assignment deadline is just around the corner and you can’t understand “Why my teammates are still so slumber”.
8) Terror
A friend helped you to solve a complicated math question and you praised him with “Wow! You are so terror!”
9) Aeroplane
When someone stands you up at the last minute, you have every right to barrage him with an irritated “Why you aeroplane me?!”
10) No Eyes See
Your mum has been nagging you to go to bed early every night, but if she’s finally upset with you, you’ll hear “I no eyes see you!” from her.
