I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I can't figure out how I should address myself and others in a conversation. In Malay of course. There's never a problem in English because it's always down to I and you.
Back in school, it was clear cut. Among friends, especially those of the same age, aku and kau are the defacto standard - mine of course. And this applied to female friends as well. For seniors (of upper forms), aku-kau are replaced with saya-abang, respectively. Obviously, abang is reserved for the males and kak for the females.
Back when I was in the States, I followed my friend on a West Coast trip. I got to know of 2 girls who are 2 years younger. Or is it 3? Anyhow... I started conversing with them addressing each of them as kau. Then they commented that it didn't sound too nice to be using aku-kau. They offered I and you as alternatives. :P
I did talk about the gathering of school friends when our Miri friend came for a holiday with her family, right? After all these years of friendships, I caught myself using aku, kau, I, you - interchangeably - with the same person. Not just one, but to several other girls as well. Am not too sure what goes on there. Ok lagi la kot?
Nowadays when I meet up with the seniors from school, I feel kinda awkward to use kau-aku, when we were on saya-abang terms before. But I guess it'd be even weirder to continue using the former pronouns. I can attest to that if somebody outside of my family circle calls me abang. Geli bulu ketiak. Ha ha ha. Our (married) office admin addresses me as that (abang), and my colleagues can't stop picking on me. :P
In my past working experience, I found out that my dad's former co-worker was working in the same organization. Usually, that would earn her a makcik or auntie title. But since that's a big no-no at the office, she's a kak. At times I found it funny when I was talking to my dad when I refered to her as Kak.
My elder brother's friend - our neighbour - also works at the same company with me. During our childhood, I've called him abang. However, I'm not sure (since I've never asked him) if he prefers the abang title or not at the office. To make it easier, I'll just try my best not omit the pronoun in my conversation with him.
Speaking in the third person is something to be avoided of in English. But that's just how we address ourselves in my family; again in Malay language. But for the past several years, the elder brothers (including me) start picking up the Northern state's hang pronoun when talking to the younger siblings. When did that happen? And FYI, I'm on a third-person term with my boss. He was the one who started it, so I'm okay to follow suit :D
Last but not least, I have friend who to this very day uses saya-awak. Most friends have adapted to using awak when talking to him. Not me though, because I feel weird using the term; jarang pakai nya pasal. Thus, I resorted to kau. He he he. Teruk kan?
p/s: Ni maknanya, kurang larian yang bermakna untuk ditulis sebagai bahan blog *lol*
p/s: Ni maknanya, kurang larian yang bermakna untuk ditulis sebagai bahan blog *lol*
I pulak have been rather too used to "I-U", and when the situation calls for more appropriate addressing, I use "saya". In class when I speak in malay, I address myself as "saya", my students become "kamu".
ReplyDeleteInteresting kan?
Tu tak masuk bab2 loghat negeri: den, ekau, ese, ambo, mu, mung, hang, kawe, teman...
:-D
Yes, that's quite interesting. Thanks for sharing Haza
ReplyDeleteSometimes the loghat negeri helps. Mcm dlm bahasa S'wak, kamek-kitak ganti aku-kauk bila bercakap dgn org lagi tua.
Its preference, some ppl rasa kau aku tu kasar .. awak and saya acceptable eheh .. Kak june guna I and You mostly but would refer to myself as kak june and by the name of the other person jugak .. kalau balik tanjung terus "cheq tak tau" haha
ReplyDeleteBro, "saya-abang" addressing seniors strictly during school days ajer, lepas sekolah term tu dah expired hehehe. Mmg geli ketiak aku kalau kau panggil aku abg hahaha. "Kau-aku" shud be OK but for the female super juniors (yg study kat Uni lagik tu atau yg baru2 grad/kerje), I would expect them to call me "abg" hahahaha (kidding lah)
ReplyDeleteorg yg cakap saya awak tu kalau lelaki perempuan kira ok lagi, kalau lelaki dgn lelaki tu dah kira pondan dah tu
ReplyDelete@kak June: haha on the "cheq tak tahu". but true, it's a matter of preference. selalunya saya tunggu how the other person bahasakan diri & org, then kita guna pakai :)
ReplyDelete@ziff: phewww sib baik. bila dpt tahu you're a senior, cam tak sure camne nak panggil.
last sentence tu tak boleh blah. Hahahahahaha.
@ijam: kau ni, sampai ke situ lak. ceh. dia "berbudi bahasa, amalan kita" :)
i prefer the i-you rather than the mindfield of aku/kau/hang/hangpa/cheq/mika/anda/sila/[insertnamehere]/abang/adik/pakcik/saya/awak. habis-habis i just avoid pronouns of any sort. or avoid talking to people altogether. hahaha!
ReplyDelete