Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

Almost Daily (Hokkien) Word Of The Day Part 3

It has come to my attention that although Singaporean Hokkien is largely similar to Kuching Hokkien (which means, they’re almost incomprehensible to Penang and Indonesian Hokkien speakers), there seems to be a few words in our vocabulary that’s more common to us tree-loving East Malaysians. I noticed that when I read that mrbrown said “Mee kia neng wa” when he ordered two bowls of skinny noodles.

According to the Hokkien in this part of the world, two is “no(3)”, not “neng”. “Neng” is egg, not two.

Here’s one Hokkien word we use that you may or may not know.

Kin Tio
kin·tio (keen·tee·oh)
Function: adjective

Meaning: nervous.

Example of usage:
As he slowly moved his hand to touch the succinct tip of her pearl-shaped breasts, he spoke with a trembling voice, “I’m feeling very kin tio leh!”

i thought ‘no(3)’is teochew for two?

Uhh.

Huh indeed.

nervous not “kan cheong” meh?

I’m not sure about the “no(3)” and “neng” thing and which is more…accurate or pure I would say. It could be a mixture of languages over the decades like how S’porean talks with singlish.

For your info, “no(3)” actually means two in Hainanese also. We pronounced egg as “nuei”.

Guess Cowboy Caleb will wonder about his choice of having Kenny Sia to guest blog now… :)

FYI,

‘neng’, is typical southern hokkien for ‘two’. (Johor, Singapore).

‘neng’ is also used in ‘kuay neng’ as in egg for southern hokkien.

‘no(3)’ is used in penang to represent ‘two’.

‘geh nuei’ is ‘egg’ in penang hokkien.

I know very well, coz my mom is Johorian, and dad is penangite, and they frequently fight over disagreements in Northern and Southern hokkien! I personally prefer Johor hokkien, coz penang hokkien somehow sounds girlish hehe…

dang it..! my teochew is already very pathetic and then now your post has totally confused me further with hokkien that sounds teochew. arrgh!
p.s: Many Filipino Chinese speak Hokkien that sounds really different too. And of cos you should also consider the Taiwanese Hokkien too if you want to do a more complete analysis of the differences.

Singapore’s hokkien and teochew are fairly rojak (uniquely Spore). Want the authetic flavour? Start on operas.

Very interesting observations! Just don’t go Taiwan and say “gostan”. Hahahaha!

hokkien was always very alien and rough sounding to me. even though i hear it so much in jb and ALL THE TIME when i’m in penang. never really managed to grasp the language unlike how i did with canto.. then again, if you ask me.. ANY ah pek speaking in ANY dialect ALWAYS sound like he is swearing/shouting profanities…

jon : “kan cheong” is cantonese lah

kenny : “pearl-shaped breasts” ? kopi-o licensed plastic surgeon ah ?

I hope you were not thinking of Cowboy Caleb when you wrote that.

“Neng” is what KL ppl say.
According to people from Fu Jian, China, KL Hokkien is the more original one. Penang Hokkien somehow mixed with some other dialects (tio chew ?not too sure).
Therefore i would say MrBrown’s one is more like KL’s one and Kenny’s one is similar to Penang Hokkien.