Shiok Ahh!

Here in Singapore, occasionally Andy and I order McDelivery from McDonald's.  You order online and 30 minutes later, a guy on motorbike arrives with it at your front door.  As a result, I've been put on McDonald's mailing list.  I occasionally receive emails about the latest promotions and products.  One of the latest ads I have received is this one:

If you were wondering if it's even possible to verbalize that ad, I found out how when I saw this commercial:

Singaporeans use the word Shiok to express happiness or contentment.  You can equate it with the satisfying feeling when you fill a food craving.  So, when describing a particularly good meal, you might hear one say, "It was very shiok!"  It's a Malay word, but has now been adapted into the wonderful language of Singlish.  If you've not heard me mention, Singlish is the unofficial language used here in Singapore.  It's a ghetto English where you use bad grammar, throw in a few Malay words, abbreviate some words that shouldn't be abbreviated, and throw a "lah" at the end of every other sentence.

I'm slowly becoming more accustomed to the language, for the first few months, when speaking with locals, I constantly had to ask them to repeat themselves.  Now, I'm getting better, and I've learned, if I have to ask more than twice, I should just change modes and speak in Chinese - it's just easier.