jiak kentang

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Malaysian and Singaporean Hokkien 食kentang or 食蕳砃 / 食𫈉砃 (chia̍h kan-tang), from 食 (chia̍h, “to eat”) + Malay kentang (“potatoes”), eating potatoes (rather than rice) was seen as a shift towards a more Westernized lifestyle.

Pronunciation

  • (Singapore) IPA(key): [ˌt͡s˭jɑʔ˨˩ ˈk˭ən˧.t˭ɑŋ˦], [ˌt͡ɕ˭j-], [- ˈk˭ɑn-]

Verb

jiak kentang (invariable)

  1. (Singlish, Manglish, stative, derogatory, of someone) To be westernized; to have abandoned one's own cultural traditions in favour of a westernized lifestyle; (of an ethnically Chinese person) to be mostly monolingual in English and unable to speak Chinese well.
  2. (Singlish, Manglish, rarer, humorous, literally) To eat potatoes.

Adjective

jiak kentang (not comparable)

  1. (Singlish, Manglish, derogatory) Westernized; rejecting aspects of one's own culture or heritage in favour of Western ideologies and practices.

Coordinate terms

  • banana, jook-sing (a Chinese or Asian person who understands English but not their native language)
  • Pinkerton syndrome (an attitude among some Asian people to favour Westerners over their own people)
  • Macaulay's children (Indians who hate their native culture in favour of Westernisation)

See also

Other terms derived from Hokkien 食 (chia̍h, “eat”)
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