Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Penang's Streets In Chinese




(Picture from The STAR)




The Star reported that "a group of Gerakan members has put up six road signs in Chinese here to tell the DAP that it has to come up with such road signs since the party is now helming the state".

I think they are doing it just for cheap publicity. Don't tell me more tourists will come visiting just because we put up road signs in different languages. Actually putting up the road signs in Chinese doesn't mean anything unless they are read in Penang Hokkien Dialect (PHD). You see, the local Hokkiens still call these roads in Hokkien. If you read the Chinese signage in any other dialect, including Mandarin, it loses its heritage flavour.

The road names in Penang are actually very confusing to outsiders. First, you have the old name, eg. Beach Street. Then you have the new name in Bahasa: Lebuh Pantai. And to add to further confusion, you have the mispelt name "Leboh". Another example, Ayer Hitam Road was the old name. Now you have rojak spelling for this road!! The correct spelling should be Jalan Air Itam. But do you know how many spelling you have for this road? Jalan Ayer Itam; Jalan Air Hitam; etc,etc.

I used to live in downtown Lebuh Pantai (Sia Boey Kay). My father's shop is still there, and he is still living there. Lebuh Pantai itself has 4 different names in PHD, pinpointing the different sections of the road. This was particularly very useful for the trishaw-men as they would know the exact section of the road to go to.

For my future postings, I shall discuss about the Penang street names in PHD and their meanings. Please visit this blog more often.

6 comments:

monsterball said...

Yip....Gerakan have nothing to do now.
Whatever they say or do....means nothing.
All they want is to get attention...like spoilt children.
DAP proposed signs made out of Chinese...or Indian...plus Jawi..for tourists through out Malaysia...for tourists easy references.
These idiots from Gerakan is trying to impress Chinese in Penang...as only with the Chinese votes...can they hope to survive...but Chinese have been waiting for a long long time....to throw out Gerakan from Panang.
Can they get that into their thick skulls.

Anonymous said...

Bloody waste of time if you ask me. There are bigger issues that begs questioning.

A comment from my blog;

Why are the other BN component parties such as MCA, MIC and Gerakan not voicing out their opinion and stance on this issue.

I gave them 48hrs to voice out and all I get is "deafening silence" from the Parties claiming to be the voice of the people. Instead they are not seen to be the stooges of UMNO.

Instead I see the Gerakan heroes shouting at the street corners about the street signs in Chinese. No to defend anyone but maybe "BOH BUDGET Leh (Promoting Penang Hokkien)".

So make noise for the right reasons and not for the sake of making noise. Gerakan ..... Dont be a tin kosong.

monsterball said...

Bravo romerz!
For once ..we totally agree....and in this sinful blog.....hahahahahahaha
Lets vote them all out....shall we??...next election.

Justin Choo said...

Monsterball is still sleep walking!! Haven't we voted them all out already??

monsterball said...

I am talking to romerz la.
He still thinks Gerakan have a life...until now.....so one must learn to agree ...to disagree.
Stop trying to teach grandfathers .....how to such eggs!!
If your answer is from him....than I admit...I am still sleeping. From you....get lost!!

wong said...

gerakan ? cheap publicity u get more mockery !

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