A Hundred 'Anu's

Listened to some conversation on the radio the other day. At first, I found it very intriguing but after 15 minutes or so, I just couldn't bear to listen anymore. The conversation was ruined by so many 'anu's.

I'm not talking about genitals but that ubiquitous conversation filler used by Bruneian speakers. If it were used in a private conversation, I wouldn't mind but on the radio? Perhaps that the use of "anu" as a filler is so common that the word wasn't censored. Or because of the context actually didn't refer to genitals.

But still, some people would cringe to hear it used in formal situations such as on the radio. Or laugh their ass off like my students when I accidentally used it in class!

Once I got very angry with them and gave them a very stern lecture. Only it didn't turn out that way because of that damn 'anu' filler.

I had meant to say "If I have any power, I would....." The problem was that my internal dialogue was in English but I had to translate to Malay. And due to my lack of thinking on the feet, it turned out like this

"Kalau Cigu ada (Split second internal dialogue: What is power in Malay?)anu...."

And of course the boys burst into laughter! All the seriousness was thrown out of the window. And I was taunted by the kids mercilessly.

"Teacher nada anu kah?"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...................