Singapore Swing (32 page)

Ah:
A particle appended at the end of a sentence implying a question and requiring confirmation, something like our ‘innit?' as in: ‘You English,
ah
?'

Ang moh:
A slightly derogatory term in Singlish, meaning a Westerner (literally ‘red-haired' in Hokkien).

Atap (or attap):
Malay for roof/shelter, denoting the palm-leaf thatched houses common in the old kampongs.

Bendahara:
In the classical Malay sultanates this was the title given to the sultan's prime minister, who was also the treasurer and chief executive of the kingdom.

Batu:
Malay unit of distance equal to a mile also used to refer to sections of the motorway.

Box-wallah:
Anglo-Indian term denoting a businessman.

Char kway teow:
A popular dish in Singapore made with flat rice noodles fried together in pork fat with prawns, fish, egg and other seafood. The word is of Hokkien origin and it means unsurprisingly ‘fried flat noodles'.

Godown:
A warehouse.

Keramat:
The tomb of a Muslim holy person, normally with miraculous properties.

Koan:
A brief question, story or saying that appears impenetrable by reason but can be understood by intuition. It forms part of the teachings of the Zen school of Buddhism.

Kris:
A dagger with a sinuous blade used by the Malays and other people in the South Seas.

Lah:
A particle appended at the end of an exclamation for emphasis – it is similar to our ‘hey' or ‘oi' even the American ‘yo' at the beginning of a sentence. ‘Oi, go home!' would be ‘go home,
lah
!'

Lai dat:
A Singlish expression at the end of a sentence, meaning ‘like that'.

Laksamana:
The commander of the fleet in the classical Malay sultanates, a position equivalent to an admiral.

Leh:
A particle similar to lah, but slightly pleading – ‘Go home,
leh
!' implies ‘please go home, don't be so bloody difficult!'

Li:
A traditional Chinese unit of distance equivalent to 500 metres.

Lor:
A particle like
lah
or
leh
, carrying an air of resignation. ‘Go home,
lor
' would be appropriate talking to a drunk or a truant kid.

Mak nyah:
The preferred expression for Malaysian male-tofemale transsexuals.

Mee:
This Hokkien word also means noodles, but these are fat noodles made of dough, not the rice noodles used in
char kway teow
. They are called ‘mein' in Cantonese which is where our ‘chow mein' comes from.

Merlion:
A mythical creature with the upper body of a lion and the lower body of a fish, the symbol of Singapore.

Nangka:
A jackfruit.

Nanyang:
South East Asia as known throughout China, literally ‘the South Seas'.

Ojek:
An Indonesian motorcycle-taxi where the paying passenger rides pillion.

Orang laut:
Literally meaning ‘sea-person'. A Malay term that is used to describe the people of the archipelago who literally live on their boats, eking an existence from the sea. Some writers freely translate it as ‘sea-gypsy' which is rather apt.

Prau or prahu:
A long, narrow Malay boat with a triangular sail. In Raffles' time they were decked and up to sixty feet in length, but modern
praus
tend to be open and much smaller.

Punkah-wallah:
A boy who was employed to keep moving a large piece of cloth, used as a fan, by pulling the end of a rope with his hand, or more usually with his foot.

Sagga:
The domain of Buddhist paradise populated by worthy beings who are still subject to reincarnation and rebirth.

Tuan/Mem:
A respectful title meaning Sir/Madam in Imperial Malaya and Singapore.

Wa:
A Japanese word, meaning social harmony.

Wa lao:
A Singlish expression equivalent to ‘goodness gracious', or ‘Oh My God'. It actually means ‘I'm old' in Mandarin – the sentiment expressed being equivalent to someone so befuddled that he or she feels suddenly aged.

Wang:
(i) ‘Lucky' as in ‘Lucky' Wang (ii) a corruption of
wén
, a unit of payment that was used in China and amongst the Chinese diaspora until the late nineteeth century when it was replaced by the
yuan
.

Allen, Charles
Tales from the South China Seas
(Abacus, 1983)

Anthony, Rachel
Singapore
(Lonely Planet, 2002)

Beng Huat, Chua
Life Is Not Complete Without Shopping: Consumption Culture in Singapore
(Singapore University Press, 2003)

Bravo-Bhasin, Marión
Culture Shock! Singapore: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette
(Marshall-Cavendish, 2006)

Ch'êng-ên, Wu
Monkey
(translated by Arthur Waley, Allen and Unwin, 1942)

Collis, Maurice
Raffles
(Graham Brash, 1982)

Dalby, Andrew
Dictionary of Languages
(Bloomsbury, 1998)

Dawson, Raymond
The Chinese Experience
(Phoenix Press, 2005)

Dobbs, Stephen
The Singapore River: A Social History, 1819– 2002
(Singapore University Press, 2003)

George, Cherian
Singapore: The Air-Conditioned Nation: essays on the politics of comfort and control, 1990–2000
(Landmark Books, 2000)

Hinsch, Brett
Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China
(University of California Press,1990)

Humphreys, Neil
Notes from an Even Smaller Island
(Times Media Private Ltd, 2001)

Kah Choon, Ban
Absent History: The Untold Story of Special Branch Operations in Singapore, 1915–1942
(Horizon Books, 2001)

Keay, John
The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company
(HarperCollins, 1991)

Lau, Albert
A Moment of Anguish: Singapore in Malaysia and the Politics of Disengagement
(Times Media Private Ltd, 2003)

Leeson, Nick
Rogue Trader
(Little Brown,1996)

Leyden, John
Malay Annals
(Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1821)

Lim, Gerrie
Invisible Trade: High-class sex for sale in Singapore
(Monsoon Books, 2004)

Modder, Ralph
The Singapore Chinese Massacre
(Horizon, 2004)

Nurvidya-Arifin, Evi; Ananta, Aris and Suryadinata, Leo
Indonesia's Population: ethnicity and religion in a changing political landscape
(Institute of East Asian studies, 2003)

Powell, Robert
Singapore Architecture: A Short History
(Periplus Editions HK Ltd, 2004)

Reps, Paul
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
(Penguin, 1957)

Savage, Victor R. and Yeoh, Brenda S. A.
Toponymics: A study of Singapore Street Names
(Eastern Universities Press, 2004)

Smith, Colin
Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II
(Penguin, 2006)

Somers Heidhues, Mary
Southeast Asia; A Concise History
(Thames and Hudson, 2000)

Stepanchuk, Carol and Wong, Charles
Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts
:
Festivals of China
(China Books, 1991)

Tannahil, Reay
Sex In History
(Sphere Books, 1989)

Thai Ker, Liu (Chairman)
Report Of The Censorship Review Committee 2003
(Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore, 2003)

Wise, Michael and Him Wise, Mun (editors)
Travellers' Tales Of Old Singapore
(Times Books International, 1996)

Yetts, W. Percival, ‘The Eight Immortals'
The Journal Of The Royal Asiatic Society
, V36 (1916)

Young, Gavin
In Search Of Conrad
(Penguin, 1991)

 

 

 

Augustin, Andreas
The Raffles Treasury: Secrets of a Grand Old

Lady
(Kin Yiap Press, 1988) Masjid Sultan – Brief History, leaflet The National Heritage Board:
Discover Singapore: Heritage

Trails
(National Heritage Board, 2004) Unknown,
Haw-Par Villa: The Original Tiger Balm Gardens: A Guide
(undated)

 

 

 

http://www.scroll.demon.co.uk/spaver.htm

Firstly, of course, my own website with some pictures of the places described here, as well as the poem that inspired the title:

http://www.yawningbread.org/

Alex's weblog as Yawning Bread

http://www.paranormal.org.sg/

Singapore Paranormal Investigators

http://www.etymonline.com

Dictionary of languages

http://www.nesa.org.uk/html/alexandra_massacre.htm

Alexandra Hospital Massacre

http://hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/essays/buddhist_heaven.asp

Buddhism: Philosophy and Concepts

http://tinyurl.com/ywf4og

In case you don't believe my ASBO story, read: ‘Yob banned from his own front door' by Paul Carey,
Western Mail
, 20 January 2005

http://www.corpun.com/awfay9405.htm

An account of Michael Fay's crime and punishment by Alejandro Reyes (‘A Caning in Singapore Stirs Up a Fierce Debate About Crime and Punishment',
Asiaweek
, Hong Kong, 25 May 1994)

http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/

Official collection of essays on Singapore's heritage

http://www.elibraryhub.com

The
Malay Annals
available online

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/china-gaytexts.html

The story of Mi-zi Xia

http://china.tyfo.com/int/literature/fables/20000221literature.htm

Tales from Meng Ke's
The Book of Mencius

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.11.0.than.html#gods

The answer to
The Question

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/

Zen
koans

 

www.summersdale.com