The local expat newspaper here in Seminyak, The Bali Advertiser featured an article this week in the 'Lost In Translation' section. The article, written by F.A. Richards is about Idioms in Bahasa Indonesia, some of which are entertaining. The street vendors who wheel the 'salmonella carts' around selling soup are known as kaki-lima. Kaki = feet, lima = 5 (the vendor has 2 feet and the cart has 3). Another one that I like is panjang tangan (thief). Panjang = long and tangan = arm.
Most tourists know that matahari means 'sun'. Mata = eye and hari = day. One that made me laugh was sapu tangan meaning handkerchief. Sapu = broom and tangan = hand. An anak buah means subordinate. Anak = child and buah = fruit. Fascinating stuff and entertaining as well to see the connections people make. People often use fruit as euphemisms for other things such as papayas and pisang. Do you know any idioms that are cute?
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lintah darat = usurer; loan shark
anak sekolah = pupil
anak buah = subordinate; follower
buah hati = darling; sweet heart
kanker - not only meaning cancer, also meaning ‘kantong kering’ - dry pockets or ‘broke’