Polls and bolos rule over twerk
Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, The Malay Mail
In Malaysia, the term is not “selfie” or “twerk” which should be Word Of The Year but, by far, the overused, extremely popular and pooped out “polls”.
“Polls” or “polling” may not be a new word but its place in the minds of the people in this country has been truly magical the past one year or so as elections of all kinds contuinue to dominate our lives everyday.
Even among the Internet generation here “selfie” and “twerk” which have just been picked as Words Of The Year by Oxford Dictionaries do not have the same impact “polls” has had or is having. “Selfie” means using your handphone to take a picture of yourself while “twerk” is a gyrating, sexually-stimulating movement common in today’s dances.
I do not like its meaning but the sound of “twerk” which somehow gives out negative vibes is something else. Just by the way it sounds, I could very well use it freely on my enemies as much as they would use it on me. “You twerk!”
But look at “polls”. Various speculations about when the general election was going to be held started more than two years ago and it reached frenzied pitch from the start of this year. By the time the date was finally announced eight months ago, the whole country went into a delirium with GE13 (13th general election) which turned out to be a close affair.
The significance of the word did not end there of course because this year alone, Malaysians were fed with all kinds of things to do with polls and elections apart from GE13 — the elections in Umno, Gerakan, PAS, MIC together with the controversy-filled DAP polls as well as the Kuala Besut and Sungai Besar by-elections.
And look at what’s coming in MCA and PKR.
In fact, most of the elections mentioned above have been riddled with disputes and controversies that they remain the talking point for a great number of days this year.
The word “polls” itself seems to be bewitching in the Malaysian context as it has spawned many other words and phrases that have captured our imagination.
One is “indelible”, a word seldom heard before it was announced last year that indelible ink would be introduced in the country’s election process. It required voters to dip a finger in the ink as proof of having cast the ballot papers.
