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

The singer vs the space tourist....

This topic is purely accidental.

I was google-ing Che'Nelle's song "I fell in love with a deejay" just now because I was trying to find out how to spell her name.

I wanted to post something else that involved her you see but I guess that'll have to wait.

After google-ing the song title, I stumbled onto the Youtube page featuring the song and started scrolling through the comments posted there.

Scroll scroll scroll.... and guess what I found?

This:

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ppppesaaaa (1 week ago)
alah!!! nak bangga buat menda..bukan dia yang naik kat atas langit i mean ISS..tadek jasa pon untuk negara...kalau nak cakap orang sabah best pon tak jugak..orang dayak mana sesuai nak menyanyi..melalak dalam hutan boleh laaa.ramai artis malaysia lagi best dr budak nih...cuma diorang nih tak stay kay luar negara..budak nih jadi popular sbb dia dok oversea..orang luar nampak talant dia..

____

Let me first go on record to say I'm not a fan of Che'Nelle.

Sure she's a Sabahan, sure she's attractive , sure she's got a nice voice and knows how to sing.

I think her song sounds good, especially when you're partying away to it in clubs.

But hey, I'm not much of a clubbing person so I guess that's why I'm not ecstatic over it. That's why I can't say I'm a fan of hers.

But when I saw that comment on Youtube, I got cheezed off. As in REALLY cheezed off.

Not only was this clown dissing Che'Nelle, but he was dissing every Sabahan as well. I can't take that lying down now, can I?

See, I don't get why the clown who posted this (a West Malaysian no doubt, most likely Malay - I'll tell you why I'm so sure of this later) had to attack the entire state of Sabah just because he (or she) didn't think Che'Nelle is good enough.

This clown seems to think that just because someone had "naik kat atas langit", that means he's all that. I suppose that makes you berjasa kepada negara la.

Well, sure... jasa indeed.... if spending a few million (or was it billion) ringgit to become a space tourist is considered berjasa.

Instead of spending the tax payers money on something that makes a difference to the lives of Malaysians like making sure the public delivery system is efficient or pave the pothole-ridden roads, the millions and millions of ringgit get channeled to satisfying our egos as citizens of Boleh-land.

(As I write this, I think the Government is actually considering spending some MORE money on acquiring the space craft that our beloved space tourist was on.)

I don't have anything against our beloved Angkasawan. It's just that our government seems to be more pre-occupied with trying to convince people that we're sending a full-fledged astronaut up there to the ISS, when clearly we were not.

One live feed that they showed on Astro had me laughing non-stop.

Here was our beloved Angkasawan posing with the rest of the crew and all he could do was start shaking his hips around like he was playing a hula hoop up in space.

All this on live national (ahem, should I say international just to stroke our Boleh ego again) television.

Although I can't confirm this, I heard our Science, Technology and Innovation Minister also made a fool of himself when he mistook Louis Armstrong as the first man on the moon.

"What a wonderful world" indeed if this is true.

I don't know what that clown, ppppesaaaa, was thinking when he wrote that comment but maybe this'll open his eyes a bit.

Eh wait, stupidity has nothing to do with the eyes.

Anyway, this clown should get his facts right before he started posting comments on the internet.

Dayaks are found in Sarawak, not Sabah. And yes, we are two different states although I doubt you, ppppesaaaa, have enough IQ to tell the difference.

And guess what ppppesaaaa, Che'Nelle didn't really have to "dok oversea" for "orang luar" to "nampak talant dia.."

"Orang luar nampak talant dia" on her MySpace page.

I have no idea what "melalak" means but hey, as a Sabahan, I 'm proud that my state still has hutans (even though there are parties who are trying to strip that away from us).

And as for the other Malaysian artistes who are "lagi best dr budak nih", by all means show the world what you can do. Talk is cheap.

As for you ppppesaaaa, go crawl back under the rock that you came from. You belong there.

Keep making music Che'Nelle! The world is listening... and a lot of them are Sabahans who are proud of you. Very proud of you...