Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Language: Menggatal

Have a go at me for insulting somebody else’s language, but this just cracks me up.

The area where our power plant is being built is an industrial area with power plants and factories called “Menggatal”.

For those of you who think it’s just another name, it’s not. For those who think that it probably sounds perfectly fine in the local lingo (Kadazan and what have yous), it probably does… but consider the following dissection of the Malay grammar:

Verb/Adjective is put into it’s context of time and intent, with an verb-modifiers stuck to the front and back of the word - affixes. For example:



Use ~ GunaBeautiful ~ Cantik
Uses/Using ~ Mengguna/menggunakanBeautify ~ Mempercantikkan
Used (past tense) ~ DigunakanMost beautifullest ~ Tercantik sekali



Hence, “men-/meng-/memper-” puts a verb into the context that it is being done… or implying “to be” and in the process of doing/being.

Gatal on the other hand, is the Malay word for “itchy”, and sometimes in slang, also meaning “horny”… go figure why it is. ;)

So technically, Menggatal means:

“In the process of being horny”

I think I might have just signed up to build a power plant in a redlight district, and gosh I love taking apart languages!

14 Comments:

At April 11, 2006 12:06 PM, Blogger Gene said...

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAA...that's seriously hell funny...

 
At April 11, 2006 1:51 PM, Blogger Elaine Chow said...

Whoa. Who the heck came up with that name???

 
At April 12, 2006 5:35 AM, Blogger BoredInDetroit said...

Hey thats my middle name :P

 
At April 12, 2006 9:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahahaha.... I use to check out a Sabahan & Sarawakian blog. They really have very long and farney names as street. Check it out and post it when you find it yea?

 
At April 12, 2006 2:00 PM, Blogger A world that i've seen said...

muahaha...
tat's the fun part of learning languages mah

 
At April 12, 2006 10:39 PM, Blogger Piffles said...

htk: yeah, and from a non-sabahan. ehehe. mebbe i shd put up a post on the slangs. =PpPpPPPPpP

 
At April 13, 2006 4:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

'itchy-fied' la u.

hahahahaha

 
At April 15, 2006 9:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I work "in the process of being horny."

Nothing wrong with that. Though, I guess it depends on who you work with.

 
At April 15, 2006 12:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, you have way too much time on your hands. Haha!

I just heard your Negaraku. It was interesting. Oh, and I'm glad that you ended it in a major key. Midway through it I was really wondering how you would end it. Hehe..

 
At April 19, 2006 1:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

lol.. menggatal

 
At April 19, 2006 1:39 PM, Blogger ♥~kimmy~♥ said...

haha.. funny..

 
At April 19, 2006 2:10 PM, Blogger Johanna said...

Heyz, this is my blog. I've deleted my MSN space.

 
At April 22, 2006 2:42 PM, Blogger Kurios1978 said...

Alright people, laugh all you want, because there's more to come ;)

Thanks for showing support though I haven't been at my best in updating the last week or so. Haven't gotten my !@&#%^ internet connection at home yet!

 
At April 25, 2006 6:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL! How did that name come about? Any local lore?

In Capampangan (a Filipino language), 'menggatal' would be the past tense of itch as in 'got itchy'. Works the same way with the slang too, hehehe!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home