Two little words etc


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Posted by quirkyartist on Sunday, 16. July 2006 at 17:16 Bali Time:

Hi everyone,
I'm a bit earlier today. There's major festival today in Ubud - in the football field...starting at 2pm but of course its nearly 5 now & hasn't started, so I'm filling in time. Bikes parked 4 across at the top of the MF Rd and no traffic.

The konfrontasi. I was standing on the path at UVH by the pool, talking to my friend Nyoman, who of course was wearing his hotel uniform. Background: in a former incarnation about 3 careers back, Quirks was a hotel receptionist and has been shouted at by one or two of the bigger names in Australian business.

This woman, from LOTF,HOTB was walking past, and all of a sudden whoops-de-do and she was stung on the toe by a bee. Well, she started making a big fuss, but it wasn't an I've-been-hurt sort of fuss, it was a pay-me-some-attention sort of fuss. Well, that's OK, but then she started saying "It's not a laughing matter" over and over again, and the voice starting to get quite hysterical(and nasty). So I put on my plummiest voice and said NOH-body thinks its a laughing matter. She said 'he does, he does', and of course Nyoman was just being Balinese, and smiling. She shouted 'what do I do now, what do I do now'. I said I suggest you walk up to the pharmacy and ask them. Heartless? Cold? Yes! Ya don't mess with the mates of the Quirks.

The two little words.I got into a bit of trouble there. I emailed them to my friend gec_ko who also reads the forum. Now she thinks I've had a man in my room. It's not true. Well, if you use the confrontation/konfrontasi model, and think 'men's sexuality',- two e-words, you can probably guess the words and even work out the Indonesian.

I loved the repies about the plurals. I've got another one for you. This one comes from the time I was in Ubud with my friend Rangda Besar. RB comes from the Land of the Pies, and she was born without an embarrasment bone. She was a Bali virgin & she loved the Balinese and they loved her. RB was complaining about having buah-dadas besar. Well, everyone knows that buah-dadas is not the plural of buah-dada, but what is? We couldn't work it out. Buah=fruit, dada=chest. But RB and I have TWO fruits each. So if anak-anak is the plural of anak, surely the plural can't be buah-dada-buah-dada!
Perhaps buah-dada covers the whole thing, or perhaps it is buah-buah dada (2 fruit, 1 chest) but I favour buah-dada-dada for aesthetic reasons. If anyone knows, please tell me!

Another language common in Bali is Engronesian (it's like Franglais). The Pies seem to have a grasp of Engronesian and quite possibly many of you have favourites. (If so I'd love to hear them).I learnt a new word in that language last night. It was on the menu at Cafe Bali. BEEP. Don't you love it? One of my favourite moments in Bali was upstairs at Ubud market when a seller called Rangda Besar a rrrrrrrrrrrrotbog. (She was.)Another one I love is bonkrot - it has such a ring...bankrupt sounds so banal after you say bonkrot.

Well, must go to the festival (having not moved this story along one iota.)


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