To the owner of this car, the story I'm about to tell is in no way meant to make fun or discredit you. :) ..the car is one of the 'character' in the story.
This story was told to me by my mum, who was told the story by my dad, who was told the story by some other friends. It's possible that the story is true since there's only one car with this plate number in KK. Or...it could've been a tall tale meant liven up a gathering. Or it was made up.. whatever the case, here's one version of it.
So, this story is supposed to have happened more than 30 years ago. Cars were scarce on the road since only the ones with more financial means were the ones who owned cars. Pedestrians were all around the roads too, giving no heed to the cars driving by and those who came down from the kampongs sometimes didn't know what to make of the cars that passed by.
This good fellow from kampong decided to go down town to KK, or Api-Api as Kota Kinabalu was called in those days (some people still call KK by that name now). He was walking down a road when this car with this plate number came too near to him. Or he might have gone too near the car. Anyway, this fellow was so indignant at nearly been hit by this car. He took note of the number and marched towards the police statine.
Now this fellow, who(in the story)reportedly only knew the numbers 7 and 8 in the Malay language. So, he indignantly went to this police officer and said he wanted to make a report. A car had nearly run him over! So the officer asked him for the plate number. The fellow then provided the number as best as he could. Mind you, he only knew the numbers 7 and 8. The officer asked him to repeat the plate number. Again the fellow obliged. The officer asked him to say the numbers one more time and the fellow who was getting impatient, repeated the plate numbers. The officer was almost near losing his temper when he suddenly realised what the fellow was saying. Comprehension dawned and he laughed long and hard.
The fellow had said, "Tujuh tabalik, lapan tidak siap." (seven upside down, eight half-finished).
Owh! We have a similar story like this.
ReplyDeleteA man, who hailed from a kampung in Negri Sembilan went to KL. It was a hot day so he went to a warung for a drink. He placed his order to the warung guy, "Den nak minam air tujuh." The warung guy was pretty stumped with his order but made his way to prepare them.
The Negri Sembilan guy waited and waited as it takes quite a while for the order to be prepared. Sure enough, when it did, it was six plates of noodles with seven glasses of water.
The Negri Sembilan guy got really pissed. "Bilo pulak den mintak ni?"
The warung dude responded, "Tadi bukan order mi enam, air tujuh ke?"
The Negri Sembilan got exasperated. "Bukan! Den mintak air tujuh!, tu tu," he said as he pointed to a can of 7 Up...
Kwang kwang kwang...