Mind Your Language
I always make it a point to brush up the local lingo whenever i travel locally or abroad. So it happened one day when we were to be picked for the dinner cruise. I had planned to shop after the cruise. So I asked my cousin to tell me what do you mean by less in indonesian lingo. He said MORA. I have observed that anywhere you go and try speaking the local lingo, they really appreciate the effort. Its easy to strike a conversation. It makes you feel good. Its worth the try.
So trying to strike a conversation i started in english and then spiced up with some local lingo. Refering to the few people around i said “Indonesian Orang (people) Mora “(less). The driver asked me what i said. I repeated “Indonesian Orang (people) Mora” (less). In Indonesian normally the first word in english is their last word. I meant there are very few people in Indonesia. The driver looked a bit annoyed, i think stunned to what i said. Then a little further i again commented that Indians here Orang Mora. The driver was surprised. He looked confused. He then told me what did i mean by saying Orang mora. So i said that there are ver few people around. To that he grinned and said. When you say less or few it means Sedikit. Mora means CHEAP.
I was really embarassed. I had been telling him all this while that Indonesians are cheap people.Orang Mora when it should have been orang sedikit. Thank god i said that Indians also Orang Mora here. When i told my cousin he couldnt stop laughing. He said that i told you use Mora when you are trying to bargain and not when refering to people. Bach gaye nahi to GPL padti thi.
Lesson learnt.
