Thursday, October 22, 2009

What do call a cock without a tail in Malay?

Another word of interest in Malay is the word 'togel'. It means without a tail.

Hence a cock without a tail is called 'ayam togel'.

This word is specially meant for chicken as pointed out by my well-esteemed friend Cikgu Yaakub Isa. I was misled by the explanation in the 'Kamus Pelajar', a dictionary publised by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka when it states (togel: tidak berekor tentang ayam dan lain-lain).

I was under the impression that 'dan lain-lain' can include dogs and cats because there were actually naughty boys who had severed the tails of such animals in real life situation. Hence the earlier contents of the post appeared. I would like to thank Cikgu Yaakub for sharing his knowledge with me.

So much for an interesting word in Malay for your perusal.

3 comments:

YAAKUB ISA said...

Mengikut faham saya, togel agak khusus bagi ayam (mungkin itik, angsa,burung dan sejenisnya); tetapi macam saya kata tadi, lebih khusus untuk ayam. Kucing, anjing, harimau tidak sesuai dengan kata togel.

Ayam togel bukan hanya dimaksudkan ayam tidak berekor, tetapi tidak berbulu; terutama anak ayam. Biasanya ayam menjadi togel bukan kerana ekornya (atau bulunya)dikerat, tetapi tercabut kerana patukan ayam lain atau kerana sesuatu penyakit.

TH Yeoh said...

Terima kasih Cikgu Yaakub kerana sudi menunjukkan maksud sebenar perkataan 'togel'. Saya percaya akan penerangan cikgu kerana orang Melayu memang lebih tahu akan maksud perkataan yang khas seperti perkataan di atas. Oleh sebab itu, saya telah menulis blog saya semula untuk menepati maksud tersebut.

Thank you Cikgu Yaakub for willing to point out the actual meaning of the word 'togel'. I believe in what you have said because the Malays will certainly know the meaning of words whose usage are peculiar such as the one above. Hence I have rewritten the post to fulfill the meaning mentioned by you.
Let us share and learn.

YAAKUB ISA said...

Sama-sama, Yeoh. Saya sentiasa mengikuti Blog Saudara dan kerap menasihati kawan-kawan yang 'terpesong' istilah BM dan BI supaya merujuk Blon Saudara ini.

Ayam togel juga boleh wujud sebagai peribahasa yang membawa maksud orang miskin; orang merempat; orang hina dan orang yang kerap kena buli...