A Big List of Words

Here is a big list of words that we have collected here as funny loan words from English, transliterated into the Malay version of English.  These are more than just the obvious ones like eksekutif and kaunter.  These are the good ones.  We especially like the ones that look like different words that are familiar to us.

akaun        Something that you open when you go to the bank
atlet        Someone who plays sports
banglo        A small house, perhaps in the country
boikot        Do this to American products after the Senate criticizes your PM
caj       What you have to pay someone for a service
ejen        The person from whom you buy tickets
eksesais        What two navies do for training
estet        A large plantation, usually that grows rubber
fail        What you do with a piece of paper
francais       There are over 100 McDonald’s examples of this in Malaysia
jip        A rough-and-tumble car
kantin        Where you go to get your lunch
kastam        The guys who check your bags
lokap        Where you go when they throw you in jail; a Sly Stallone movie
mesingan        You might get shot a number of times with one of these
reman        If you do not make bail, this happens to you
saintis        Someone who knows lots of sains
simen       Used for building things
skuasy        I can’t tell the difference between this and racquetball
tibi       A bad sickness to have, but curable

Comments 3

  1. Josh July 29, 2005

    I can’t figure this one out:
    ejen The person from whom you buy tickets

  2. Mj December 25, 2005

    how can i not laugh at this…
    welcome to post-colonialised asia, where our vocabulary have been unavoidably & further enhanced to allow better communication between the natives and whitemen inbushjacket.
    Kondominium – a classy metropolitan pigeonhole with 5star hotel facilities…

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