thambi

I was reminded of this word when I read a kiasu joke. In my childhood it was a generic term for a young Tamil man, as in:

The kopitiam thambi will bring over your coffee

It occurred to me to look it up today, and it means little brother. I suspect it's no longer correct to use. However I think bang, short for the Malay abang, brother, is ok. Sort of like bro in English.

No thambis here, serve yourself

Blur

Another one of those slang words we used came back to me today. This is not to be confused with bleugh, a tone of disgust. Blur conveys tiredness, confusion, being out of it, that sort of thing. Examples:

We arrive by overnight bus from Penang. We so blur!

Aiyah, after 2 hour exam I totally blur.

Why you so blur?

So picturesque, if blurry, hahaha. Memory prompted by this blug, er, blog article.