©
Jack Tsen-Ta Lee |
ular
/uu-lah, ˈuːlɑ/
n. & a.
[Mal., snake, serpent (Wilkinson)]
A
n.
One who tells tales about another to a superior in order to gain advancement or
some benefit for himself.
B
a.
Sly, sneaky, untrustworthy.
1978
Leong Choon Cheong
Youth in the Army
314 ular.
A soldier who has the characteristics commonly associated with a snake: sly,
sneaky, slimy, ie
an informer, a person who tells tales about a colleague to his superior in order
to obtain his own advancement. Hence
ular-king.
Comb.: ular-king n. One adept at being an ular or who frequently behaves as an ular. See King.
ulu /uu-luu,
ˈuːluː/
a. [Mal.
ulu, hulu head; upper portion; the higher portion of the watershed
of a river-state
(Wilkinson);
the upper waters of a river, up-country, the
interior of a country (Winstedt);
compare orang hulu a man from the hinterland, a rustic (Wilkinson); inland folk, boors (Winstedt)]
1
Remote, rural, out of the way.
2
Backward, primitive, undeveloped.
1 1994
C.S. Chong
NS: An Air-Level Story
59 I’m not even telling you about my time in ulu Camp 1. 140 ulu.
.. rural. 2000
The Sunday Times, 20 February, 42 My mum thought
the chedi at Ubud was a little ulu; all that unkempt foliage all the way
down to the ravine below. 2000
The Straits Times, 26 June, 37 He
was from Serangoon English School, an ulu – meaning out of the way –
school. 2000 Yeow Kai Chai
The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 2 July, 5 His poverty-stricken, broken
family in an ulu Malaysian town. 2004
Raymond Andrew (quoting Chief
Justice Yong Pung How)
Today,
18 February, 6 You drive her out into the ulu-ulu (remote areas). 2006
Neil Humphreys
Final Notes from a Great Island 118 When I decided to embark on a
farewell tour of Singapore, I was keen to examine its underbelly and its darkest
corners: I wanted to see the ulu bits. Ulu means “remote” in
Malay. In Singlish, ulu refers to the distant four corners of the country
where taxi drivers will not respond to calls and will not take a passenger there
without moaning for the entire journey about how he will never pick up a fare on
the way back. 2
1991 Valerie Tan
The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August,
19 ulu – backwards. 1994 C.S. Chong
NS: An Air-Level Story 140 ulu. Backward/dilapidated/spartan.
2001 Arti Mulchand (quoting
T.K. Sabapathy)
The Sunday Times
(Sunday Plus), 25 February, P7 When I was a schoolboy, the city as such
ended at the junction of Selegie and Bukit Timah Road. After that, the ulu
part of Singapore began.
uncle
n. [Eng., poss. a transl. of Mand.
叔叔 shūshu father’s younger brother, uncle; a
child’s form of address for any young man one generation its senior; or cognates
in other Chi. dialects] (A polite term of address for) a middle-aged or elderly man who
may or may not be a relative. Compare
Auntie.
2001 Neil Humphreys
Notes from an Even Smaller Island 29 A Singaporean auntie or uncle can
be anyone who is from the older generations, like an English old age pensioner (OAP),
and the term is used out of affection and respect. In a country where so much
emphasis is placed on the family unit and respecting your elders, it is only
right that the elderly are held in such high esteem.
2003 Anthea Rowan
The
Daily Telegraph (from
Telegraph.co.uk),
14 October. We’ve found an island full of aunts and uncles [title] .. I was
still getting to grips with the local parlance. Singlish – an unconventional
brand of English with a smattering of Chinese and Malay thrown in – was my next
hurdle. Tea became teh, coffee became kopi, and waitresses and waiters ceased to
be – replaced by people I was expected to call auntie and uncle. Good grief, I
had relatives here?
2005 Colin Goh
The Sunday Times
(LifeStyle)
(from Straits
Times Interactive), 17 July. A crew member asked .. an elderly male extra
what was inside the two large canvas bags he carried around with him every day.
‘Uncle’, as we called him, immediately unzipped the bags to reveal scores of
albums filled with very graphic photos of him in flagrante delicto with ladies
from around the region. 2006
Chua Boh Seng
The Straits
Times (from
Straits Times
Interactive), 2 March. Call step-parents ‘Aunt’ and ‘Uncle’ [title]. My
wife comes from China. We, too, have grown-up children from our previous
marriages, though none of them live with us now. When she was introduced to my
then-teenage son, I told him to call her ‘Ah Yi’. In Mandarin, that means the
sister of one’s mother. It is also widely and politely used to address an
elderly woman. When I met her two sons in China, they called me ‘Shu Shu’. In
Mandarin, it means the younger brother of one’s father. It is also widely and
politely used to address an elderly man. Actually, I am older than their father.
.. It is, in fact, perfectly appropriate to address them [step-parents] as
‘Aunt’ or ‘Uncle’ as these names also have an element of respect. 2006
Colin Goh
The Sunday Times
(LifeStyle)
(from Straits
Times Interactive), 4 June. ‘Steady,
da! ..’ said one of us. ‘Kopi Uncle got taste, man!’ 2006
Terence Chong
The Straits
Times (from
Straits Times
Interactive), 17 June. [H]eartlander uncles and aunties.. 2009
Jasmine Teo, Rachael Boon & Natasha Ann
Zachariah
The Sunday Times
(LifeStyle), 8 March, 2 The word “auntie” conjures up an image of a nagging
old woman with a bad perm while “uncle” is more likely to be a fuddy-duddy
balding old man in a singlet and shorts hanging out at the void deck.
2009 David Yeo
The
Straits Times (Life!), 14 March, E6 The terms of address – “auntie” and
“uncle” – have negative connotations and are often used to refer to people from
the lower strata of society.
2009 Mrs C.P. Ho
The
Straits Times (Life!), 14 March, E6 From young, my parents taught me to
call anyone older, especially those who are married or are working, “auntie” or
“uncle”. It is a way of showing respect. If you feel old just because people
call you “auntie” or “uncle”, then you have a self-esteem problem. If you are a
foreigner who objects to being called “auntie” and “uncle”, I say this is part
of our culture, so accept it.