My singlish has improved significantly since my last entry..

The typical lingo used in Singapore coffee shop (kopi diam).

1) Tat kiu (“kicking ball in hokkien”) – Milo
I think it is because of the tin design

milo2.jpg

Though there are swimming, skiing, tennis labels now but “tat kiu” is still used commonly. How do you say swimming, skiing and tennis in hokkien???

2) Kopi siew dai (“coffee small brother”??!!) – Coffee with lesser milk

Actually it is not Hokkien. I was told that “siew dai” is hainanese. Siew- less, Dai – milk

More milk- ???

3) Kim mun tai (??) – Lemon tea

Why Kim mun tai?
My guess: Kim mun tai is hokkien for Clementi – A suburb in Singapore. May be the older generation was confused between “Clementi” and “Lemon tea”.

Thus, Lemon tea = Clementi = Kim Mun Tai (hokkien)

4) (HK) Kopi di lok (coffee straight down) – strong coffee

Di Lok means straight down in hokkien. They usually pour the concentrated coffee into a cup and dilute it with hot water. So, kopi di lok means pouring more coffee into the cup before diluting it with hot water.

5) Teh C – tea with evaporated milk

I was fooled by a friend when I first asked him what Teh C was. He told me that tea has different grades: A, B and C. So Teh C means it is a “Grade C tea”. Well done..

6) Dio hu (“fishing” in hokkien”) – Tea

My guess: Tea is served with tea bag. The motion of pulling the tea bag up/down resemblances to the fishing motion.

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