Friday, July 07, 2006

What's in a name (of a place)?

I'm sure some people might not get why I would find this amusing, but I do.

A while ago, after taking my grandpa for a visit to the doctor's, my cousin and I were told to drive my grandparents to a certain hawkers' centre supposedly quite well-known for its satay beehon.

My aunt insisted that all I had to do was to tell my cousin to drive us to the spot in Ang-suah that they used to go to.
Relaying the message to my cousin who claimed he was not good in any Chinese dialect despite having parents who mainly communicate in Chinese, the response I got was: " Oh... you mean Bukit Merah ah?"

Now for those of you who are not bilingual in Indonesian/ Malay and any Chinese dialect, Bukit Merah in Indonesian/ Malay can be literally translated as Ang-suah in Teochew/ Hokkien.

So I didn't hesitate at all:" Uh huh.... "
"Your mom said it's the place you guys used to go to a lot for satay beehoon." I added.

Then off we go....

Except when I got there, I was quite sure that we were not at the right place as I had also been there once a few months back. I tried to convince my cousin that we were at the wrong place.

The debate was ended with a quick phone call to my aunt, and everything was solved with my cousin waving his hand in annoyance and exclaimed:

"Haiyaaaa!!! That's Redhill laaaahh....!!!"

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