Three words I’ve been thinking about:
Mooi or moi (no not you Mooiness). Dutch. Said by M’s family at different occasions.
While eating:
GD: (licking his fingers after eating something particularly delectable) Mmm, zeer moi!
Everybody: Ya, moie!
Looking at something pleasing – scenery, a nice outfit:
SC: (prancing around the room, she’s only six) Look at my dress!
TD: Yes darling, it’s very pretty. Pa, look at S!
Opa: Ohh moi!
As a greeting:
WW: Right, I’m off then, bye!
WW Senior: Moie!
WW: Moie!
Everybody: Moie!
Babelfish translates this word as beautiful. M’s family speak a Dutch dialect, Gronings or Grunnengs, so it is likely that it is not a standard Dutch word. I have no idea how to spell this word – but have just found it on Gronings voor beginners, which suggests that moi is the word for hello.
(There’s actually another Dutch word I’d love to write about but I can’t work out how to spell it, and I haven’t been able to find it in the dictionary either. It too could be a dialect word, which is why it is not in my standard Dutch dictionary. The closest English equivalent I can find is stir crazy. M will know what word I mean!)
On to languages I am more familiar with:
Geram. Malay. I love this word, which has two definitions.
1. angry, annoyed. 2. like or love; be drawn or attracted to.
In the first sense it’s quite straightforward. Saya naik geram kerana dia cuba menyindir saya. “I was angry because he tried to insult me.†Or, “I became geram because he tried to insult me.â€
In the second sense it’s a little less conventional, in English, at any rate. Azizah geram benar melihat kanak-kanak yang tembam dan cerdik itu. “Seeing the chubby and smart child, Azizah felt really geram.†Dictionary definitions never say it, but it is the feeling women in particular have which drives them to pinch a child’s chubby cheeks. We still say it from time to time, particularly when referring to cute and chubby babies – “Ohhhh so geramlah!â€
-lah. Malaysian (or Singaporean) English. Not strictly a word, it’s a suffix which indicates the attitude of the speaker.
From Malaysiana:
Some of the many applications of “lah”
Coaxing Come on-lah; don’t be like that-lah; please-lah
Forceful Shut up-lah; get out-lah; go to hell-lah
Apologetic Sorry-lah
Fed up Enough-lah
Really fed up ****-lah
Definite Of course-lah; sure-lah
Generous Take some more-lah
Unyielding Cannot-lah
Dumbfounded What-lah
Reluctant Dowan-lah! (A contraction of “don’t want-lah”)
Suggestive Try-lah
Agreeable Okay-lah
Disagreeable Your head-lah
Categories: language, culture, translation
We had dinner at my in-laws’ place last night. They’re planning a trip to Europe and I was heartened to see that they had a couple of travel guidebooks for the Netherlands on the coffee table. I said that I always feel like a fraud when M and I go to Malaysia because we always need the guidance of the Lonely Planet’s Malaysia edition. J, M’s mum, laughed and said that they want to know every single place they could possibly visit while they’re there…
They’ve been looking at the Lonely Planet Netherlands guidebook, as well as the Dorling Kindersley (DK) guidebook for Holland. I’d never looked at the DK guidebook series before, and was really impressed by the lavish illustrations and maps.
