31 Responses for "Bro, Mike, Joe & Macha"

1. beetrice May 17th, 2007 at 12:19pm 1

   Hey…just dropped by to say hi. Nice site!

   Well, I’m not sure about Malay or Chinese, but teen boys like my bro keep calling each other ‘wanker’ (not literally, but it’s sort of like ‘macha’) - geez, you’d think their parents gave them names for SOMETHING right??

2. suanie May 17th, 2007 at 12:38pm 2

   erm.. i dunno.. leng jai, leng lui? A bit presumptuous on their part, no?:P

3. Che-Cheh May 17th, 2007 at 12:48pm 3

   Yes, leng chai and leng lui

4. Wingz May 17th, 2007 at 12:48pm 4

   chinese call each other as “sohais” lol

5. susie_q May 17th, 2007 at 12:48pm 5

   don’t forget ‘apu’ or ‘pu’.. maybe they really can’t remember names?.. than again its better than having a big ass mecha calling u ‘bitch’ right?

6. Mo May 17th, 2007 at 1:16pm 6

   What if your name is Joseph Michael Apoonaselvam..???

7. Kay Kastum May 17th, 2007 at 1:30pm 7

   I call my Indian friend ‘Thamby’.
   In Sabah what we call ah..among KadazanDusin I think it’s ‘Gaman’ (Friend). Other races in Sabah I heard them calling ‘Joe’,'Brader’,'Palek’,'kawan’,'geng’ which I used during school days as well.

8. Gallivanter May 17th, 2007 at 1:38pm 8

   beetrice Yes, at least when I was in school, we still call each other by names - except it’s their surnames.

   suanie Yup, and it’s bloody annoying. They utter the word at the end of every sentence. “No la bro, you see ah bro, we need to go this way, then ah bro…” Makes me wanna be a terrorist!

   Che-Cheh You mean that’s uttered in every other sentence?

   Wingz Well, it depends on how it’s expressed across I suppose, but I’m sure patience will be tested if it’s used repeatedly.

   susie_q No, they’re your friend, they know your name, mention it once, and then off they go with these. “Apu” doesn’t apply to hip hop wannabes.

   Mo Either disown their parents or convert.

   Kay Kastum LOL - thamby? “Joe” is annoying.

9. k k j m May 17th, 2007 at 1:47pm 9

   Oit Cina Kueh!!!! for chinese, I think..

10. Mr D May 17th, 2007 at 2:00pm 10

    Macha is short for “machang” which is tamil/singalese for “brother” so yeah…..

    i like “mate” coz that is just a form of acknoledgement here …..a true friend i call “brother” to acknowledge the close affection.

    then again some people i call “biatch” or “fool”

11. Clare May 17th, 2007 at 2:37pm 11

    I heard from an Indian friend that the “Macha” is saying that ‘you are married to my sister’ and its very very rude.

    Chinese ar, mostly leng zhai and leng lui lor. I heard Malay friends call each other ‘Mat’. I guess that’s where Mat Rempit came from, no?

12. tihtahpah May 17th, 2007 at 4:59pm 12

    i dunno how many times i’ve fired up when someone calls me AMOI…that’s really really annoying. or when gfs are referred to as FOH (means ‘goods’ in english). Or Sohais/cibais/chauhais,lanjiaos, and anything of that nature.

13. Gallivanter May 17th, 2007 at 5:04pm 13

    k k j m Oh man, that is demeaning.

    Mr D Wait, isn’t it some uncle and niece drama thing? Mate’s fine, it’s the REPEATED uttering of the word in every sentence.

    Clare Whatever it is, I hate that word. Mat, Brader and Beb I think are the regular Malay “names”.

    tihtahpah Yeah, some people are born idiots…they think cursing is cool.

14. Mamak Mechanic Masterz May 17th, 2007 at 5:51pm 14

    I call Indians “boss!” at the restaurants, ahahahaha

15. miccobayb May 17th, 2007 at 5:52pm 15

    oh god..haha this cracked me up so bad! I need to use some of these since this silly apartment I’m staying now (in Adelaide) is FILLED with Indians hahaha. You’ll be surprised. I saw more Indians than chinese in Melbourne last weekend!!! They are breeding riotously! It is Question. Will I get killed?
    Aussies have so many names…where to begin?
    Bogans/Mates/Aboes/blokes…
    Seriously though, what’s with Mike & Joe? People who call us girls AHMOI should get farted in the face. I’m not even sorry.

16. Kay Kastum May 17th, 2007 at 5:57pm 16

    Ha ha ha.. Mamak Mechanic Masterz, I forgot about that one. In mamak shop, waiter and customer calls each other boss…so everyone’s a boss..

17. miccobayb May 17th, 2007 at 6:00pm 17

    What does Rempit mean anyway?!??!?! o.O?
    My impression:
    Rempit: Ramp it! Ramp it!
    Machan: Malay Belacan!
    Joe: I don’t remember your name
    Mike: Michael Jackson suppose to be black?
    Micco does not know what she’s babbling about. I should go to the foyer downstairs and go “ey Joe!”. Note: They hang out in apartment FOYERS in ADELAIDE with SARIS. hahahaha!

18. cindy May 17th, 2007 at 6:04pm 18

    Eh.. doesn’t matter where I go (in Malaysia).. people keep calling me Ah Moi. *sigh* I’m not Chinese lah!

    .. but most of the time too, they call me liang moi (pretty girl). Kembang a bit lar~ although I know they don’t really mean it. LOL!

    I’d normally call my friends by their names, never “Joe” “Ah Chai” “Ah Pek”, unless I’ve forgotten their names, then I’ll call them “Wei”. Hahaha!

    Only my bestfriends gets special names like “Ah Sau”, “Ah Sam”, “Auntie”.

19. conan_cat May 17th, 2007 at 8:37pm 19

    lol indians do that?? i never knew, cuz i don’t have much indian friends sorry.. i grew up in a very chinese society haha.

    anyway, for chinese agree with upstairs they will always start of with “leng chai” or “leng lui”, sometimes “mr” or “miss” in a very polite way, or “hello!!!” in quite a rude way.

20. Rob May 17th, 2007 at 8:47pm 20

    Chee Bai Kia!
    hahahahhaha!

21. Jewelle May 17th, 2007 at 9:10pm 21

    Ahh, now I know the origin of a nickname that an Indian friend calls his wife with, LOL. I used to think he calls her “Joe” (among other nick) because her usual nick “Jay” sounds similar.

22. zewt May 17th, 2007 at 9:50pm 22

    many has already answered… chinese.. leng chai leng lui la… some also use ‘ah sai’…. something like ‘tau keh’ like that…

23. Gallivanter May 17th, 2007 at 10:02pm 23

    Mamak Mechanic Masterz Okay, but I’m talking more about friends.

    miccobayb You won’t get killed, in fact, they might welcome you into their clan. Brouhahahaha!

    Kay Kastum Well, it’s not really applicable to this post.

    miccobayb LOL. You need a holiday. Yes, I think rempit means the action of playing with the bike’s throttle or some drama like that.

    cindy That’s not too bad Wei. I don’t think that’s used in every other sentence as Macha/Joe/Mike.

    conan_cat Not all Indians, just the hip hop wannabes, see previous post for the classification of Indians in Malaysia. Hehehehe!

    Rob In every other sentence? Is that person still alive? LOL

    Jewelle Wait, there’s a female version of “Joe”? Hahahahahahahaha!

    zewt Ah Sai? Does it have the same annoying impact as Joe/Mike/Macha do?

24. Christinesy May 17th, 2007 at 11:11pm 24

    Mostly Chinese just call strangers lengjai/lenglui, but must add the “eh” in front to make it sound nonchalant.

    When in restaurant, these can be heard all the time.

    “Eh lengjai, can bring the soy sauce?”
    “Eh lenglui, toothpick please..”

    Ah Moi I heard mostly Chinese use it to call girls of other races.

25. coffeerox May 18th, 2007 at 8:27am 25

    i can only say what is consistent amongst my friends… hahaha…

    indian males = macha

    indian females = tangachee

    chinese males = ah beng

    chinese females = leng lui, char siew

    malay males = mat

    malay females = minah

    but seriously, I went through a phase where all the guys I knew - didn’t matter what race of which corner of the world you came from - I always called them uncle, joe or boy. Esp the guys from drunk as shite in dimly lit and stoopidly packed club days…

    ^__^

    and now all my female friends are aunty.

26. Gallivanter May 18th, 2007 at 9:49am 26

    Christinesy Chinese use Ah Moi to call girls from other races? I’ve never seen or heard that before. Interesting.

    coffeerox Why do you call someone Joe? Reasoning?

27. Rhyme.. May 18th, 2007 at 3:31pm 27

    Joe, Mike, Machai, So Chai, Lok Chat..& Etc Are District naming conventions…

28. sabrina May 18th, 2007 at 6:12pm 28

    I am totally guilty of this! Nothing wrong what?

    I am totally retarded when it comes to remembering names. Plus i am always trying to cut down names to single alphabets or sounds, so to me “macha”, “joe” and “babe” are a blessing and highly overused

29. Gallivanter May 18th, 2007 at 6:29pm 29

    Rhyme District naming conventions??

    sabrina Noooooooooooooooooo!

30. sabrina May 18th, 2007 at 8:55pm 30

    Why la Joe? Ok what macha..
    *runs away*

31. Gallivanter May 18th, 2007 at 10:36pm 31

    sabrina Come out come out wherever you are! *LOOKS AROUND WHILE HOLDING A WATER PISTOL*