William Gwee Thian Hock - Baba Malay Dictionary: The First Comprehensive Compendium of Straits Chinese Terms and Expressions

acknowledgements i t is fashionable among many Babas and their cultural organisations to speak about preserving their endangered culture. But, when offered the opportunity to contribute effectively to its preservation they turn out badly wanting. I, therefore, begin this list of acknowledgements with grateful thanks to The Peranakan Association, Singapore, which has taken the initiative to contribute the initial finance for the publication of this Baba dictionary. Indeed, the desire not to allow the Baba community and culture to die is no mere lip service to The Peranakan Association of Singapore. With this dictionary the Babas and Nyonyas today and for generations to come will not lose touch with their roots, particularly their mother tongue. I am also deeply indebted to the following people to whom I shall always be grateful beyond words, viz., Carolyn Lim Swee Lian for the initial typing, editing and inspiring encouragement; Peter Lee of The Peranakan Association for the subsequent typing, editing and inspiring encouragement; William Tan for his regular tte--tte in the purest Baba language; Toh Kiat Huan and Anton Kilayko for their kind assistance in typing the corrections; and Robert Tan Chew Beng and Liew You Choo for the many hours of invaluable help with the Hokkien Chinese characters.

And to the rest of the Babas and Nyonyas who have directly or indirectly contributed to the manuscript in some form or other. Lastly, the views expressed and the presentation in this dictionary are my own and none of the people listed above are responsible for any errors or omissions for which I take full responsibility. William Gwee Thian Hock
December 2005

names of cherki cards contents Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 and 61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12 Singapore 534167. Copyright 2006 The Peranakan Association, Singapore All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0-8048-3778-1 ISBN-10: 0-8048-3778-3 ISBN: 978-1-4629-1300-8 (ebook) First edition, 2006 Printed in Singapore Distributed by: North America, Latin America & Europe
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dedication to MY LATE PARENTS my father, Gwee Peng Kwee and mother, Seow Leong Neo MY FAMILY MEMBERS my wife Rosie Tan Chwee Neo, elder son Andy Gwee Boon Kheng, younger son Randy Gwee Boon Kim, his wife Caroline Lee Kim Sweet; their son, my grandson, Marc Gwee Eng Meng, and their daughter, my granddaughter, Joan Gwee Eng Neo. May you always continue to use the Baba language HE BABA PERANAKAN COMMUNITY all Babas and Nyonyas cherki glossary ayam to secure a win through a card drawn by another player bakol the central pool, made up of contributions from winners of each round, that can only be rewarded to a player who strikes a 'kandang' win, after which contribution to the pool recommences balek lima belair a variation of cherki balek satu a variation of cherki involving no fixed number of players bangkong a pre-arranged limit of points or chips for a win or round putus bangkong' to reach the prearranged limit of bangkong, whence players must settle the count of their points or chips with money buta when, upon winning, the player draws an uncoloured card, which will score him fewer points than drawing a coloured card cherki a Nyonya card game cherki dua lawang a strategy where the player attempts to hedge a win by waiting for two rather than just one winning card cholek / cholek daon to draw a cherki card cholek tiga a variation of cherki that is played by two players only chote kiong a variation of cherki involving four players only chote / chote ramay a variation of cherki involving more than four players daon a cherki card gantong to be one point short of a bangkong', whence other players must be extra-vigilant to prevent the player from achieving a full bangkong' kandang to secure a win by drawing one's own winning card kepala a set of 60 cherki cards consisiting of 2 cards each of the 30 different cards kerat to flip open a card from the pool deck in order to determine what card a player who has extra cash in his hand must surrender koyak to spoil or break up one's own combination of cards in order to prevent another player from winning. SEE pukol orang kretair cherki the cherki cards in general main cherki dua lawang to play a double game mata a set of identical cards in one's hand, which is a requisite before 'tan' is announced pak tui a game of solitaire played with cherki cards pau when a player mistakenly declares a win without a 'mata' and is penalised pukol orang to spoil or break up one's own combination of cards in order to prevent another player from winning. SEE koyak punggot tong where a household hosting a cherki session imposes a due on the players, the conditions of which may vary in each household sampay to win a round tak semakan prior arrangement between two cherki players (e.g. a husband and wife) not to collect the winning from each other tan to be 1 card away from a win, which a player must announce tongkeng a variation of cherki played by two people using only 1 'kepala' of cherki cards