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© Jack Tsen-Ta Lee
Last updated on 15 November 2013 (11 headwords). No reproduction without permission.

jaga /jah-gah, ˈdʒɑɡɑ/ n. & v. [Mal., awake; alert, vigilant (Wilkinson, Winstedt) < Hind. जागा jāgā keeping awake throughout the night (as an aspect of a religious observance); Hind. जागना jāgnā to wake up; to be awake; to be alert, vigilant; Hind. जागता jāgtā waking, watchful (McGregor) < Skt. जागृ jāgṛi to be awake, to watch, be watchful, attentive, intent; to foresee, provide; to sit up during the night; Skt. जगढ jagada attendant, guardian (Monier-Williams); compare Mal. menjaga to guard, to watch (Winstedt); Mal. orang jaga watchman (Winstedt; Wilkinson notes that this is Straits Settlements Mal.)]  A n. A guard, a watchman.  B v. Guard, oversee, watch over, keep an eye on.
A 1978 Mohamed Shariff The Straits Times, 4 October, 7 Difficult to collect wages, so jaga may have to go [title] .. “The jaga is for the benefit of all, but some just do not seem to realise it.”  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 103 The camp becomes a desert for the weekend as people have fun outside while the duty man plays jaga.  137 jaga. Watchman or watch.  2000 Dennis Wee with Sylvia Fong Making Luck with Your Hands 24 I doubled as a jaga greeting bigwigs.  B 1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 92 Driver, jaga the landrover.

jalan /jah-lahn, ˈdʒɑlɑn/ n. [Mal., path, road; course to take; movement; continue, walk (Winstedt); movement in a definite direction; way, way to do something (Wilkinson); berjalan to be in motion: see quot. 2004]  betting  Bookmaker’s odds.
2004 Karl Ho The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 13 June, L6 Jalan. Malay for ‘walking’. Refers to the bookie’s odds that constantly change as the match progresses. Usage: To girlfriend: ‘Oi, I have to hang up. Got to check the jalan with my bookie.’

jalan-jalan /jah-lahn jah-lahn, ˈdʒɑlɑn ˈdʒɑlɑn/ v. [Mal.]  Stroll, walk about.
2004 Arlina Arshad (quoting Seah Yam Keng) The Straits Times, 23 March, H6 He spends a few hours at his wooden kampong house to ‘laze around and jalan-jalan’ (Malay for ‘walk about’) because he enjoys being surrounded by nature and animals, and likes the fact that everyone there is trustworthy.

jangan tension /jahng-ahn, ˈdʒɑŋɑn/ int. [Mal. jangan do not (Winstedt); a word expressive of objection or prohibition (Wilkinson) + Eng. tension] Mal. slang  Relax; don’t be so full of tension.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 jangan tension – don’t be so full of tension.

jelak /-lahk, ˈdʒəlɑk̚/ a. [Mal.; compare Ind. djelak to be tired of; terdjelak to be satiated with food (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng.); Jav. djelèh bored (with), tired of; djelèhan boring, easily bored (Horne)]  1 Cloyed with an excess of something so as to cause disgust; glutted, satiated, surfeited, esp. surfeited by an excess of food, too much of the same food, or with food that is too rich, to the extent that one is repulsed by it.  2 Of food: too rich, esp. having too much coconut milk.
1 [
1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 454455 jělak. Surfeit; glut. Jěmu-j. [jelak]: sated, «fed up», e.g. with empty compliments; Ht. Koris [Hikayat Koris]. Makanan sudah těrjělak: having eaten more than enough; Put. Akal [Shaer Putěri Akal (Singapore) [lithograph]] 37. Cf. jěleh.  456 jěleh.. Jav. [Javanese]. To be nauseated with; to have had too much of; B. [Badings, Maleisch Woordenboek]..  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged MalayEnglish Dictionary 138 jělak, sated, disgusted..2004 Yong Shu Chiang (quoting Buang Mohamed Said), Today, 13 May, 30 Fed up already, like feel gelak (overkill).  2 2007 Chris Tan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 19 August, L25 Its [laksa leaves’] refreshing, citrusy lilt blends well with fruity tamarind and helps to make rich, coconut-laden dishes less jelak (heavy).  2013 Rebecca Lynne Tan The Sunday Times (SundayLife), 31 March, 25 If the soup is any thicker at the start, it would be too jelak (Malay for cloyingly rich)..

ji siao /jee siow, dʒiː sɪaʊ/ v. [Hk. ji bully, take advantage of + siao ridicule, laugh at; Mand. qī xiào]  Disturb, ridicule, tease.

jia lat var. of Chia Lat.

jiao zi /jiow tz, dʒiaʊ tz/ n. [Eng. (Hanyu Pinyin) translit. of Mand. jiǎozi dumpling (with meat and vegetable stuffing): jiǎo dumpling + zi a noun suffix (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  A Chinese food item consisting of a steamed dumpling containing minced pork and chives, which is usu. eaten with dark vinegar and finely-shredded ginger.
1968 B.Y. Chao How to Cook and Eat in Chinese (2nd rev. ed.) 253 Pot Stickers, a favourite Northern food, are simply Chiao-tzu grilled on a griller. The skins and the stuffing are made in the same way.  2006 Theresa Tan
The Straits Times (Mind Your Body) (from Straits Times Interactive), 14 June. This is a tale of two dumplings – sui kau and jiao zi. .. Jiao zi is less stuffed, but more thick-skinned. .. [J]iao zi sits happily on a plate and comes with vinegar on its side. .. [J]iao zi hails from mainland China. .. The steamed jiao zis (dumplings in Mandarin) at Tian Jin Fong Kee.. are simple yet satisfying. The taste of pork is not overpowering and the chives are a nice contrast in texture and flavour to the lean shoulder pork. Also, the floury skin used to wrap the meat is just nice, not too thick nor too thin. While its boss Fong William will not divulge what ingredients go into marinating the meat, the recipe is good enough to sell hundreds of plates of jiao zi each day. I also liked the vinegar used by Fong Kee, which is lighter than the versions I have tasted at other stalls. Vinegar is to dumplings what ketchup is to fries. It enhances the enjoyment of jiao zis and helps to reduce the rich meaty taste of pork. .. $6 at Tian Jin Fong Kee gets you 12 jiao zis. While the stall sells guo tie too (the same dumplings fried instead of steamed), bear in mind (and eventually your tummy) that fried dumplings contain 40 per cent more fat than steamed ones.  2007 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 19 August, L27 [T]he dish comes with a jiao zhi [sic] (meat dumpling) instead of a xiao long bao..  2009 Mak Mun San The Sunday Times, 19 April, 29 On any given day, she would opt for a kick-ass Sichuan steamboat over a Peranakan meal, la mian (hand-pulled noodles) over bak chor mee, jiao zi (boiled dumplings) over rojak.

Joe n. [Eng., a fellow, guy, chap < familiar abbrev. of the English name Joseph; compare U.S. slang G.I. Joe an American soldier < abbrev. of g(overnment (or g(eneral) issue1 mil. slang  A generic name used to address a male soldier whose name is unknown or to whom one has not been introduced.  2 Mal. slang  A generic name used by Mat Rokers to address each other.
[
1906 Edward George Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands, ch. 8, 92 Why, man, it’s meat ’n’ beer t’ them Joes what go in fer bringin’ ther wanderers ’ome.  1932 American_Speech, June, 333 Joe, term used to designate anyone whose real name is unknown. When used with a place or profession ‘Joe’ indicates a perfect example of the type connected with that place or profession.] 
1 [1842 D. Breger Yank, 17 June, 24 [strip-cartoon title] G.I. Joe.  1945 News Chronicle, 17 May, 2 Four G.I. Joes calmly playing dice.  1947 Wystan Hugh Auden The Age of Anxiety (1948), ch. 1, 26 Bringing to all John Doakes and G.I. Joes tidings of great joy.]  1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 308 Joe. Just as British soldiers were given the general name ‘Johnny’ by Singaporeans of the 1950s, our soldiers call each other ‘Joe’, especially when they have not been formally introduced. Perhaps the origin can be traced to the American GI Joe.  2 1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 Hey Joe! – they [Mat Rokers] call everybody Joe.

jube /juub, dʒʊb/ a. [poss. < Jav. jujun, kajujun attracted (by); madly in love (with); compare ngjujunaké attractive;  ngjujuni attractive; attracted to (Horne)] Also jut.  Of women: physically or sexually attractive; sexy.
1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 51 Sure got very jube girlfriend.  65 Speculation about the vital statistics of each and their facial jubeness.  137 jube.. Pretty, cute, physically adorable.

jut /juut, dʒʊt/ var. of Jube.

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