Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, discusses how the Hokkien Chinese slang expression kiasu, meaning being afraid to lose out, slipped into Singapore English and went round the world in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.
“Do you know the word kiasu? If not, then be kiasu and google it. You’ll get more than a million hits and learn that, usually associated with Singaporeans, it means “to be afraid of losing out”. You’ll come across references to kiasu parents, kiasu companies and even kiasuapps.
Just four decades ago, the Hokkien term kian su was confined to Singapore army slang. As the dominant lingua franca of Chinese Singaporeans, Hokkien terms first spread among males performing compulsory national service. But before long, this one had entered everyday, albeit colloquial, Singapore English.”
Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2025374/where-word-kiasu-came
Source: SCMP
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