Wednesday's Word Up

If your family hails from the East coast (eg the PAS states) then you may be familiar with today's Word Up - "go stan". Phonetically, it's pronounced "go" and "stun". Kelantan and Terengganu peeps normally accent the word a "g" at the end. So it sounds like "go stun-g".

Well what the heck does "go stan" mean? It means to back up or reverse. The root of the word is "go astern". Astern, meaning backward direction. Isn't it interesting to find such proper English rooted in a word such as "go stan"

To use it in a sentence you say:

"Tolong go-stan kereta you sikit, susah nak keluar nanti."

or

"If he suddenly go-stans then you're gonna get run over and your girlfriend sure bising becaues you didn't listen to her just now." **yes you can say "go-stans" - just another beautiful facet of our colloquial language**