Bin Gregory Productions » Language

Granfalloons

bingregory — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:51:18 +0000

Granfalloon (n) : “A proud and meaningless association of human beings.” A word coined by Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) in his book Cat’s Cradle. I was recalling the concept recently for some reason but couldn’t bring the term to mind. There it is: A granfalloon. The idea is illustrated in the book by a woman from Indiana who is just thrilled to meet Hoosiers everywhere she goes, a Hoosier being a name for people from the state of Indiana, but the shared qualities she recognizes in Hoosiers exists only in her own mind. Thanks, Kurt.

To be simple

bingregory — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:21:56 +0000

We Come Round Right

Tis a gift to be simple
Tis a gift to be free
Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be

And when we have come down
To the place just right
We will be in the valley
Of love and Delight

When the true
Simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend
We shan’t be ashamed

To turn, to turn
It will be our delight
Till by turning and turning
We come round right

An old Shaker hymn that my mother liked to sing when I was young. I sing it to my kids now. The Shakers were very Sufi I think, admirable people.

Perjalanan (The Journey)

bingregory — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:06:00 +0000

Duet with M. Nasir & Al-Jawaher (1982)

M. Nasir:
My affairs are not yet settled
Till I have found His Light
All I desire on this journey
Is that you send along the Fatihah for me

Al-Jawaher:
Listen to my voice calling you
Like a song
Know that this journey has nearly reached its end
Deliver my intention
Unto the righteous
(O Friend)
Tell them how I long to be with them
Begging the Good Pleasure of the Lord

Together:
I beg His Good Pleasure

(repeat to fade)

***
English translation by
Bin Gregory Productions.
***

Original Lyrics.
M.Nasir :
Urusanku belum selesai selagi
Belum ku temui sinarnya
Hendaknya dalam perjalanan ini
Kau bekalkan ku Al-Fatehah

Al-Jawaher :
Dengarlah suara memanggil
Bagai bersenandung
Sedarlah perjalanan ini hampir tamat
Sampaikan hasratku pada mereka
Yang soleh
Oh teman
Katakan ku ingin bersama mereka
memohon keredhaannya

Duet :
Aku pohon keredhaannya

Masihkah Kau Ingat

bingregory — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:24:24 +0000

Sekuntum bunga itu

Masihkah Kau Ingat by Kopratasa,
a Malaysian popular music trio active in the late 1980s. This was perhaps their biggest hit, and still receives a lot of play on Malaysian radio.

***
Give it a listen:
Kopratasa – Masihkah Kau Ingat

***
English translation by
Bin Gregory Productions.
***

Do you remember still
That single moment where
A blossom full in bloom
I placed within your hair

Do you remember still
Transformed into a dream
Longing to be with you
Do you remember still

Do you remember still
As we ran and ran
To the foot of the sky
The rainbows we chased
As the rain did come to fall
Together we were drenched

Do you remember still
Do you remember still

Do you remember still
The blossom on that day
In the palm of my hand
It did wilt away
As I closed my grasp
It did turn to dust
Do you remember still

Do you remember still (repeat to fade)

Original lyrics in Bahasa Malaysia:

Masihkah kau ingat
Pada waktu itu sekuntum bunga mekar
Kuselit ke rambutmu

Masihkah kau ingat
Ia menjadi mimpi dan menjadi rindu
Masihkah kau ingat

Masihkah kau ingat
kita berlari-lari di kaki langit mencari pelangi
lalu hujan turun kita basah bersama

Masihkah kau ingat
Masihkah kau ingat

Masihkah kau ingat
sekuntum bunga itu
Ditapak tangan ini
Ia menjadi layu
Lalu kugengam ia menjadi debu
Masihkah kau ingat
Masihkah kau ingat

Masihkah kau ingat
kita berlari-lari di kaki langit mencari pelangi
lalu hujan turun kita basah bersama

Masihkah kau ingat
Masihkah kau ingat

Masihkah kau ingat
sekuntum bunga itu
Ditapak tangan ini
Ia menjadi layu
Lalu kugengam ia menjadi debu
Masihkah kau ingat
Masihkah kau ingat

Masihkah kau ingat(8x)

Disclaimer: Lyrics and song link posted in the spirit of fair use and providing publicity to a non-BM-speaking audience. Copyright holder may contact BGP for removal requests at kopratasa@bingregory.com

Betul kata cicak

bingregory — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:42:21 +0000

The cicak, or house gecko

Cicak, Cicak, di dinding
Diam, diam, merayap
Datang seekor nyamuk
Hap! Hap! Lalu di tangkap!

***

Translation and more after the jump.

Gecko, Gecko on the wall
Quiet, Quiet as he crawls
Along comes a lone mosquito
Hap! Hap! He’s been swallowed up!

Living in Malaysia means sharing your home with the cicak, the house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus). You may find them cute, you may find them repulsive, but you will find them everywhere. They are in every home, shop and mosque, from the lowest to the grandest. As house guests go, the cicak is a good one. They stay quiet and out of sight, hiding behind pictures, clocks and light fixtures on the wall by day. At night, they emerge to feed on the insects of the house, especially mosquitos.

The cicak (pronounced Chee -chak) turns up elsewhere too, in nursery rhymes, in textile patterns, even in movies. Cicak-man is a popular action-comedy movie about a Malaysian who acquires superpowers when he drinks a teh tarik that had been pooped in by a cicak!

The cicak is the top-level predator of the home. Nothing much eats cicaks though occasionally one will fall off the wall into the hands of a cat. Or a kid. My brothers-in-law amused themselves as kids by shooting them off the walls with rubber bands.

Hemidactylus frenatus

Did I say they were quiet? They are most of the time, but at night they will sometimes bark, a very loud bark for such a small lizard. The sound is kind of like “CHAK”, hence the name. When the bark coincides with your conversation, you might joke “betul kata cicak” – the cicak says I’m right.