Goondu

Goondu Origin: Tamil/Malay – literally means fat (tamil) and hard (malay) but is used locally to describe a stupid person or an idiot. Goondu is a name that you use on someone who is either stupid or someone that acts like an idiot. 

Chicken Feed

Chicken Feed Origin: Singlish – The term is used to describe a task that is easy to accomplish, just like a piece of cake. Chicken Feed is Singlish’s very own version of the english phrase “a piece of cake”. It is akin to describing that a task is easy or a problem that can be […]

Karung Guni

Karung Guni Origin: Malay – It means gunny sack but is more popular as a reference to our local Rag-and-Bone Man. Karung Guni better known to Singaporeans as Karung Guni Man is our local Rag-And-Bone Man who collects old items like newspaper, electrical appliances, clothes and many other stuff. In the past, they will go […]

7 Early, 8 Early (七早八早)

7 Early, 8 Early Origin: Chinese – From the chinese phrase 七早八早, which means early in the morning. “7 Early, 8 Early” (七早八早) also common in its hokkien form is used to refer to the time frame between 7am – 8am (or earlier) when some could still be asleep. It is commonly used as a phrase […]

Siang Kar Pager?

Siang Kar Pager? Origin: Hokkien – It is a question asking who had paged me on my pager This hokkien phrase was commonly used back in the 80s/90s and early 2000s when there was widespread use of pagers. A pager also known as a beeper is a telecommunication device that can receive alphanumeric messages and […]