5 Words I Only Learned in Adulthood

My colleague once told me how an 8 year-old neighour persuaded her then 10-year-old nephew to key in the letters S.E.X while surfing the Internet. My first thought? I doubt if I knew how to spell the word SEX when I was eight (yes, I was a very slow learner when it came to reading), let alone understand what that word entails.

But oh, how the times have changed! Thanks to the Internet, TV, iPad, and mobile phones, kids these days are exposed to practically everything, at times to their greater disadvantage.

Here are five very ordinary words that I only got to learn as an adult.


#1 Decapitate

Back when we were still in school, the only form of death penalty we had ever heard of was "gantung sampai mati" (hanged to death), and it was a punishment befitting a murderer or a drug addict/pusher. It was only in my higher secondary school years that I discovered the word "noose" was in actual fact, NOT a misspelling of the organ, "nose".

As an adult, though, and with the rise of ISIS and other extremist groups, another word has made its way into the tabloid, TV, radio and other media i.e. the verb to DECAPITATE.

Teddy Biscuits

One of my friends' three-year-old daughter shared her teddy biscuits with me one day and as she snapped off the head (of the teddy biscuit, of course!), I casually remarked, "Oh look, you have just decapitated the bear!"

In my defense, I do not have kids of my own, so I naturally forget to put on my G-rated filters whenever I speak to them. This little girl paused for a short while and looked at me. I thought the episode was over until my friend texted me the very next morning saying, "Thanks to you, my three-year-old just used the word DECAPITATE during breakfast!"

Whoops! It was highly unintentional. Moral of the story? Always keep your kids away from Aunty Lilian...


#2 Epicentre

One of the very few things I recall from Geography lessons is the fact that our beloved country, Malaysia, does not rest on the "Lingkaran Gunung Berapi Pasifik" (the Pacific Ring of Fire). We have been constantly reminded that our nation is indeed very blessed because we did not experience earthquakes and other massive movements of the land and/or sea, unlike many of our neighbouring countries.

Photo taken from The Star showing image before and after the earthquake

Nonetheless, we have since experienced our fair share of natural disasters such as the tsunami in 2004, Bukit Tinggi earthquakes between 2007-2009, and of course, the 2015 Ranau earthquake that changed the landscape of Mount Kinabalu forever. Whenever any of these disasters occurred, we kept hearing the word, "epicentre" being used very often, in reference to the "point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake."

Of late, though, the word "epicentre" has regained its popularity with the spread of the COVID-19, as a result of Coronavirus. This time, the Hubei province in China has been labelled the epicentre of the disease. Before SARS and MERS-CoV, we haven't had the need to label any location as the epicentre of an epidemic. This shows that the word is no longer exclusive to earthquakes but to any central point of an unpleasant situation. 



#3 Viral

To describe SARS, MERS-CoV, and COVID 19 as viral diseases makes sense. But the word "viral" has transcended beyond its medical usage and has become rather inclusive.

These days, when something goes viral, it may not necessarily refer to diseases. It could be anything that has become very widespread, especially on the Internet. With the technology of pin-hole cameras, coupled with the accessibility of mobile phones and the Internet, practically any incident can be recorded and easily shared to the point of no return. The same goes to pictures and text messages. For that reason, we are now stuck with lots of Fake News circulating in our midst.


#4 Catfish

And then there are some words that I only got to learn after becoming a lecturer and interacting with students who are probably half my age.

Yums, ikan keli sambal cili merah

Whenever I frequent a nasi campur (mixed rice) stall, my eyes cannot resist zooming into the ikan keli (which is usually served fried and blanketed under lots and lots of chilis). Despite its slightly hideous appearance, I simply love the texture of the fish, from its super crunchy deep fried head to its succulent and sweet white flesh enveloping the needle-fine bones.

Oh boy, just thinking about it makes my mouth water...

That, to me, ladies and gentlemen, is what catfish is all about.

Imagine my confusion then when students brought up the term "catfish" as we were discussing the pros and cons of using social media. Apparently, "catfishing" is one of the many dangers that users face online. As far as I was concerned, however, the only catfish in my mind was seducing me from across the table of the nasi campur stall...

If you have no idea what "catfishing" means, you are probably as ancient and outdated as I am (or even more). According to urbandictionary.com, "catfish" is a fake or stolen identity created or used for the purposes of beginning a deceptive relationship. In short, if you happen to be a hamsap (filthy) old man trying to con an innocent young girl online, you should take a good look in the mirror. I mean, you could have transformed into a catfish, unknowingly.


#5 Telegram

One of the more shocking words I learned also has to do with the topic of social media. While asking students to list the types of communication used today, one of the students (a very polite, obliging, and gentle soul) blurted out, "telegram".

I mustered all my sense of control so as not to laugh out loud at what I thought was an extremely outdated suggestion. I had immediately pictured boys or girls in colourful costumes, ringing the doorbell of houses and singing telegram messages. Or at least postcards with very limited number of words (considering it was pretty expensive back then to send one and the payment depended a lot on the number of words).

I thought to myself, "This kid must be living in the 1960s! Who sends telegram these days?"

You see, this was what I had in mind:

An image of what an old telegram would look like (though this is dated 2013)

But this was what he meant:

Telegram: A modern app

Talk about generation gap! At the end of the day, the joke was on me. To this day, I still do not know what is so special about this application, but many people are leaning towards it. Many even claim that it is better than WhatsApp. This goes to show that I should never underestimate my students' knowledge, especially when it involves new slang and terminology.


What about you? Do you have words that you only got to learn as an adult?