Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Malaysia’s National Language Association is all about the 2017. They took to their Twitter account earlier this week to clear up any underlying questions the yoof of today may have on how to adapt English slang into their Bahasa lexicon.
Or at least give some kind of direction to purists and didactic aunties and uncles alike, on how to speak to kids, and have them not understand what you’re talking about.
The language body chose to define four terms under the header of “Meticulous with Language – Current Terms.” Well, lah di dah!
Here are the terms:
Kata pikat (pick-up line)
Swafoto maut (killfie)
Meridap (nap)
Tunafoto (photobomb)
In case a you were wondering what a “killfie” is, it’s a selfie that is taken at a dangerous location, possibly resulting in the death of the photographer, if there is a single misstep. Adrenaline selfies are a mass-market thing now, and not just limited to nihilistic Russian youth.
“Nap” seems to be an interesting one to take to task. What about siesta? Since we’re all Spanish speakers after banning Despacito over the lyrics, may as well make use of the knowledge.
The one raising the most eyebrows is tunafoto with Bahasa speakers across the country wondering just how a fish ended up in a pic.
Turns out that in Bahasa tuna has other meanings. In the fourth edition of the Kamus Dewan dictionary (hold on, let me just grab that from the coffee table), it can also mean injured, flawed or broken.
To be honest, “photo bomb” makes just as much sense as “injured photo.”
There you have it. Kata pikat all weekend long.
Now, can you guys seriously campaign against the dropping of written vowels by today’s teens? Aku x phm.
