Bah...

Simple, yet diverse.

This is probably one of the most common words used by Sabahans.

And no, it's not just when we speak Malay but even English as well.

It's one of those words that makes a Sabahan feel right at home when he hears it while waiting for his flight home at the airport or even in a "foreign" place like West Malaysia. ;-)

But surprisingly, no one seems to know how this little word came about. No one really knows its origins.

Heck, I'm not even sure whether it can be considered a word. Maybe half a word.

Something like "lah", but not quite the same.

(Is "lah" a word?)

Actually, it can be used together with a "lah".

How do we use it? Aha! That's the big mystery.

Ask any Sabahan and he probably wouldn't be able to teach you how despite being able to roll it naturally off his tongue in every other sentence.

It can be used to emphasize something, eg "Saya tidak marah bah" or "I'm not angry bah."

It can be used to "soften" a sentence, eg "Jangan lah bah kau marah" or "Don't lah bah get angry."

Used on its own, it can also mean "okay", as in: "Bah, nanti lah saya datang" or "Bah, later lah I come over."

While it's not really something that can be taught to a non-Sabahan, it can be picked up.

Of course, not many people can really, reaaally pick it up and use it in all the right places to be able to pass himself off as a Sabahan.

One guy I met who worked several years in Sabah tried to show off his mastery of it.

If you hear him speak in the beginning, you'll notice he pretty much got the hang of it. But once he keeps on speaking and using the "bah" in his sentences, you start to catch his mistake.

In his effort to show off, he over-used it.

Ah well, I'll give him points for effort.

There are some people who insist on going "Sabah bah..." whenever I tell them I'm from Sabah.

While this might seem cute to them, most Sabahans find this a little annoying.

I don't know why, but maybe we feel a bit patronised when people try to imitate us but end up getting it all wrong.

The worst ones are those who actually say "Sabah bah?" in a questioning manner.

That is SO wrong coz as far as I can remember, "bah" is never used in questions like that. At least not at the end of the sentence.

I think the only time it's used in a sentence is when you wanna soften a sentence by saying things like "Macam mana bah kau punya kerja ini?"

Which brings me to this...

I think a while ago, some of the deejays at Hitz.fm called up Che'Nelle and asked her to "show proof" that she was born in Sabah, Malaysia.

Her reply was (if I'm correct): "Apa khabar bah..."

I assume that while she wanted to show that she was from Malaysia by saying "Apa khabar", she also wanted to add in the Sabahan part of her by adding "bah" to that.

The problem is now the deejays as well as their listeners think Sabahans actually greet people like that, by saying "Apa khabar bah", which is totally not true.

What Che'Nelle said was a statement; she wasn't asking the deejays how they were doing.

So, my dear Peninsular Malaysian friends, the next time you meet a Sabahan, I strongly advise you against trying to be smart and saying things like "Oh, you from Sabah bah" or "Apa khabar bah."

You'll end up being stared in a weird way if you do. O_o