02.25.06
Posted in General at 5:50 pm by Imnogman
Today I have registered for a new sem… It’s time(partly) to go back to ‘camp’ again… but there is no sales or school uniform… anyway, new books, new subjects and new ‘prof’ is waiting…
Week one will be occupied with the discussion about last sem result over lunch (in UO cafe, of course)… Week 7 or 8 of the coming mid-sem… last minute assignment over week 14… and the finals on week 15… everything will be over in 4 months…
Yes Prof, we are ready to negotiate the new rate or percentage of mid/final/assignment… hopefully there is not too many group projects which make the result quite predictable… But we will be happy to get A or A-…
What about last sem result? Sorry, it is not for u…
Permalink
02.18.06
Posted in Travel & Adventure at 5:02 pm by Imnogman
For the last one week it is like a magic of Harry Porter, so fast…Â At a blink of an eye, now i am on another weekend…
For the first 2 days, i travelled to the north, to one of the state capital… followed by another 3 days in another state capital in Borneo Island (East Malaysia)…
In the North, i stayed at the supposedly top hotel for the first time (even though, it is very clear to me the lack of number of ’star’ given to the hotel), but face with the worst hotel living experience of my life… with no in house phone and no iron and unfulfilled services and promisses by the hotel waitress… Can memorised your room number but never delivered… Imagine contacting the hotel front desk by the general line using your mobile phone… Maybe that is why they know my room number during checkout!
In East Malaysia, where some people still call us ‘Orang Malaya’, i stayed at one of the internationally renowned hotel, also for the first time, where the first choice hotel normally is one on the ‘riverside’…
Considering the facts that i have been here for so many times, spending the time resting while watching tv in the hotel room is the best option within the tight schedule…
Having seafood for the dinner and some other local dishes is really killing my diet… We did having some ‘midin’ and ‘umai’ (forgot another locally available seafood)..Â
Considering that umai is a traditional working lunch for the Melanau fishermen, the notion isn’t that far fetched. It is made mainly of thin slivers of raw fish, thinly sliced onions, chilli, salt and the juice of sour fruits like lime or assam. It is usually accompanied by a bowl of toasted sago pearls instead of rice. Its simplicity makes it a cinch for fishermen to prepare it aboard their boats. Even local landlubbers, hankering for a taste of it, head for this cafe. Umai is uniquely associated with the Melanau people, for whom Mukah is the heart of their traditional lands.
Above description is an extract from another article found in the local website…
On the way back, due to a frequently delayed and retimed local airlines, we have to change flight… Luckily there is enough seat on a Sydney-KL bound transit Airbus to accomodate our retimed B737… Not a bad flight delayed experience after all… Dont forget about the 5 millions discounted MAS offering tickets…
Now i left with Twin Otter and 1st Class after experiencing B747, B777, Airbus, B737 and Fokker, economy and business class… Have ‘flight’ will travel…
Next: Have ‘train’ will travel… Shinkansen
Permalink
02.08.06
Posted in General at 6:52 pm by Imnogman
Finally i’ve decided to publish one of the many articles… sent by a member of my Yahoo LirikLagu egroup… written by a very active internet editor/writer i guess… every time i read his articles, it remind me of so many gap that exist in our life - generation gap, cyber gap, etc… i always hope the whole thing happen in a process of evolution… when each of us can (do we have a choice?) slowly adopt to these changes… I m sure nobody like to be called an anti development, anti-this, anti-that…
So, what are u waiting for, get out, and mix around… this is Malaysia!
Here it is…
Title: Of Hek-Eleh & Poyo Gile, or, Bukan Cintan Ori
If you had trouble appreciating the title, then just blame the generation gap. or then again, perhaps it’s actually a sign of serious aging in process (though I’d rather conveniently subscribe to the former). I was listening to my four kids having conversation during our family dinner the other day, and trust me it was a revelation of sorts. I was equally amused and horrified at the same time; bearing witness to blatant abuses to the Malay Language.
Sometimes I too struggled to grasp the meaning of some supposedly `new’ words and phrases that I once thought I’ve duly mastered. For example: “Hek-eleh… poyo giler…”
For the uninitiated, the word `poyo’ here could mean anything between uncool, not phat, square, boring, nerdy, ugly to being a downright jerk. Gross, I hear you say? Well, come to think of it, perhaps it could mean that too, and more. Hence its brazen youth by the Rakan Muda Generation. What is immediately evident is the reaction it brings; it seems that one would prefer to be called `lembab’ or even `bodoh’ rather than `poyo’. Maybe to them being a `poyo’ makes one The Ultimate Social Pariah.
I still recall how my father used to strictly monitor the types of magazines that I read, for fear of getting infected by the dreaded symptom (then) referred to as `Pencemaran Bahasa’ (language pollution). So, understandably it is particularly frustrating now for me, as a father, to actually have to listen to my own kids proudly brandishing their `Bahasa Melayu XP Version 5.2 (Updated 2006)’. Of course, who are you to complain. To them, you are just an `Otai’, which is actually an adulterated version of `Old Tie’.
If you think having to hear the kids resort to using such language is awful enough, then maybe you haven’t heard enough after all. As if to add salt to injury, the Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka has actually decided to announce that the words `Ori’ (from the English word `original’) and `Cintan’ (used to be a colloquial word to mean `amorous’) are now officially accepted as full-fledged authentic Bahasa Melayu words.
Makes you wonder what is the prevailing criterion for a word to be accepted as such.
Granted, Bahasa Melayu as a language does face the dilemma most minor languages have; it suffers from inadequate vocabulary. Thus began the almost feverish borrowing from other languages since more than two decades ago. Hence words like `imunisasi’ (immunisation) and `polarisasi’ (polarisation). Globalisasi and Melayu Global (later glokal, for `global and local’). The possibilities were endless, and people were gleefully adding to their new found vocabulary. But when words like `ori’ gets in, any self-respecting linguist couldn’t help but frown.
I don’t have anything against borrowing, or more precisely, adopting words from other languages, except for the obvious fact that we already have words such as `asli’ to sufficiently mean `original’. And come to think of it, I’ve never once used the word `ori’ to denote that meaning. So why the haste to announce it as a new `Malay’ word?
I’m sure my 80-year-old Grandma, for one, would fume like a locomotive if she knows this. After all, she’s been using words such as `senalar’ (frequent), kebelai (hungry), peghosah (disturb) etc. for as long as she could remember…so why on earth aren’t those words accepted yet?
I was still watching my kids and listening to what sounded like Double Dutch to me. One of them caught my gaze. “Hek-eleh .”, he said, without really meaning anything at all. I smiled at him and, absent mindedly blurted, “poyo?” Almost simultaneously, they all laughed approvingly. “Tau takpe”, another one said and lovingly put her hands around me.
There you are, I told myself. Tau takpe. (meaning: If You Know, Then It’s Okay).
Cheers & best regards,
Zaim Al-Amin
You can read his other articles from the following egroup:
Zacknina zacknina@yahoogroups.com,
World Politics world-and-politics@yahoogroups.com,
UMNO Malaysia UMNO@yahoogroups.com,
Transcendentalists transcendencia@yahoogroups.com,
The Malaysian the-malaysian@yahoogroups.com,
RJ Utara rjutara@yahoogroups.com,
RJ Selatan rjselatan@yahoogroups.com,
Relexjap relexjap@yahoogroups.com,
Promuda Prodigy promuda_circle@yahoogroups.com,
Persada Seni persada-seni@yahoogroups.com,
Pemuda UMNO pemuda_umno@yahoogroups.com,
PAS Network pas-network@yahoogroups.com,
MERCY Malaysia mercy_malaysia@yahoogroups.com,
Melayu Cyber melayucyber@yahoogroups.com,
Melayu Cafe melayucafe@yahoogroups.com,
Melayu Australia melayu-australia@yahoogroups.com,
Malaysian Underground malaysianunderground@yahoogroups.com,
Malaysian Models malaysianmodels@yahoogroups.com,
Malaysiakini kini-malaysia@yahoogroups.com,
Malay Cafe malaycafe@yahoogroups.com,
Lirik Lagu LirikLagu@yahoogroups.com,
Lawyers’ Club legalchambers@egroups.com,
Lagu Malaysia lagu_malaysia@yahoogroups.com,
Keadilan News keadilan_eberita@yahoogroups.com,
Keadilan parti-keadilan@egroups.com,
Generique Corporate Club generique@yahoogroups.com,
Cyber Digest cyberdigest@yahoogroups.com,
Business Networks business-networks@yahoogroups.com,
BMW Car Club bmwcar@yahoogroups.com,
Bandar Utopia BandarUtopia@yahoogroups.com,
Australian Malay australianmalay@yahoogroups.com,
Ampang Point ampangpoint@yahoogroups.com,
Ampang Club ampangclub@yahoogroups.com.
Alamak! My blog is on the way to become a “just another blog”… when i started attaching articles from someone else instead of my own writing… sorry about that… just this one…
Permalink
