Nicknames' Evolution
One of our school friends was called "Zack" in our pre-adolescent years. Throughout school he was chubby hence in some quarters he was known as "Zack Buncit" (or Zack with a paunch"). As we grew old(er), he had worked out & looks really good. He is now known as "Zack Smart" (or Zack the Dashing One").
Another friend has a given name of "Sazali". Since there were 2 Sazalis in our batch that year, one ended up being called "Anakku" (My Son); inspired by the late P. Ramlee's movie "Anakku Sazali" (My Son Sazali).
A senior has the lovely name of Yusra- folks called him "Kkuro" (East Coast slang for "Tortoise"). Not that he moved slow or anything. Just because it sounded similar.
One of my classmates & also class monitor during Form 5 is a wise-looking soft-spoken well-behaved guy Zaharuddin. We call him "Ayah" (Father/ Daddy) as it felt like we were taken care of by a father figure.
Endearing names for dorm members were also used: such as Along, Achik, Angah, Usu. These are typically used by Malay families to denote the children's order of birth: along (firstborn), angah (number 2), achik (the middle child either number 3, 4, or 5), Usu (the youngest).
Girls tend to be kinder with our nicknames to the other: most times we just truncate our long(er) names. Zety becomes Z, Fatihah becomes T, Junnaina becomes Junn.. and so on.
Apparently this practice is still going on in schools & colleges of Malaysia as we speak.
My eldest son is called "Ujang" at college. He doesn't know why- most likely because during his year there were many Afiqs enrolled for the course and they decided to call him Ujang for irony. Ujang in Negeri Sembilan dialect is a generic reference when calling a male in the family/ community, akin to "Son/ Bro/ Boy" in a way. It is derived from the word "Bujang" meaning single/ unmarried.
Another friend has a given name of "Sazali". Since there were 2 Sazalis in our batch that year, one ended up being called "Anakku" (My Son); inspired by the late P. Ramlee's movie "Anakku Sazali" (My Son Sazali).
A senior has the lovely name of Yusra- folks called him "Kkuro" (East Coast slang for "Tortoise"). Not that he moved slow or anything. Just because it sounded similar.
One of my classmates & also class monitor during Form 5 is a wise-looking soft-spoken well-behaved guy Zaharuddin. We call him "Ayah" (Father/ Daddy) as it felt like we were taken care of by a father figure.
Endearing names for dorm members were also used: such as Along, Achik, Angah, Usu. These are typically used by Malay families to denote the children's order of birth: along (firstborn), angah (number 2), achik (the middle child either number 3, 4, or 5), Usu (the youngest).
Girls tend to be kinder with our nicknames to the other: most times we just truncate our long(er) names. Zety becomes Z, Fatihah becomes T, Junnaina becomes Junn.. and so on.
Apparently this practice is still going on in schools & colleges of Malaysia as we speak.
My eldest son is called "Ujang" at college. He doesn't know why- most likely because during his year there were many Afiqs enrolled for the course and they decided to call him Ujang for irony. Ujang in Negeri Sembilan dialect is a generic reference when calling a male in the family/ community, akin to "Son/ Bro/ Boy" in a way. It is derived from the word "Bujang" meaning single/ unmarried.
posted by elya at 8:18 am
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