I put together this list of local terminology from a request sent to me asking me to explain some of the common words used in everyday English over here. Many of this seep into English from the vernacular dialects. So here's a short list that will grow over time:
  1. Catch No Ball
    Unable to understand or follow the thread of the conversation, to be confused.
  2. Go-stun
    Verb, to reverse. A corruption of "to go astern", it is often used in conversation for backing out a vehicle.
  3. Food Court
    Indoor eatery located within air-conditioned shopping mall with individual stalls and usually a centralized beverage seller. The stalls could be privately owned or all belonging to the Food Court management.
  4. Go-stun
    Verb, to reverse. A corruption of "go astern", it is often used for backing out a vehicle.
  5. Hawker Centre
    Outdoor eatery with individual stalls, each selling a particular or a small selection of dishes. Except in very big hawker centres, no two stalls sell the same dish. Hawker centres are operated by the beverage seller.
  6. Night Market
    Popularly called by the local name, Pasar Malam. This is a congregation of street vendors that take place once a week at a different, usually residential, neighbourhood. Items sold range from clothing to household utensils as well as readily-prepared food. Fresh food, as those sold in wet markets, are occasionally found, but not usual.
  7. Penang Hill Caught Fire
    Just got a hair cut.
  8. Syiok
    Enjoyable, entertaining, fun.
  9. Wet Market: Market where fresh produce are sold in a non-airconditioned market building. The name comes about as the floor is usually wet and slippery.
Write to me if there are other phrases you wish to add to this list.

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About this website



Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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