Tale Retold: Bonnet or No

Assalamualaikum 

n 

Selamat Sejahtera

What's The Difference Again

(Heads I Win Tails You Lose!)

{Taken from my blog's entry -  

Saturday, December 12, 2009}

... and, talking about those with a simple mind and form of action ... there was this other friend of mine who dropped by when passing my house. 

It was a few days ago. I was having tea with members of my family.

Being our instant guest he was of course invited to join us. 

It was a no 'hal' occasion for him (he just wanted to say 'hello' and relax for a while). 

We chatted while enjoying our tea with some 'kuih'.

All of a sudden this friend of mine remembered something. 

He excused himself and rushed to his car which was parked about a stone's throw from my house. 

He soon came back with a laptop. 

He said (in his northerner's slang bahasa Malaysia) ... 

"Takut tinggai ni dalam bonet keta ... nanti member kebaih habih".

[I'm afraid to leave this in the bonnet of the car ... it may get stolen.]

I looked at him and cheekily said:

"Ha ... nasib hang baik ... natang tu tak rosak boh kat enjin keta ..." 

[Lucky you ... that thing isn't spoilt when left in the engine compartment.]

He asked me what made me said that. I just replied that the engine compartment is almost always (except for very few brand of cars) situated in the bonnet.

People keep their things and/or baggage in the boot of the car.

My friend just smiled and brushed off the explanation ... with this remark ... 

"Dah besa orang kata lagu tu dalam bahasa Malaysia ... amik barang kat bonet keta ... orang tak kata but pun ..." 

[It's normal for people to say that in bahasa Malaysia ... get the things from the bonnet ... people don't mentioned the boot at all.]

Well, to him what's the difference. It's OK as long as people understand what you want to say. So long as they knew what you meant. I did not say more. After all he was that brilliant student who scored an A (Distinction) for English in the OSC* exam in the sixties.

It's fun to have friends of such character sometimes ...

*Overseas School Certificate





bamuda
dsuarang.blogspot.com