sotong, n.
Frequency (in current use):
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Inflections:
Plural unchanged, sotongs.
Origin: A borrowing from Malay. Etymon: Malay sotong.
Etymology: < Malay sotong squid, cuttlefish.
In blur as (a) sotong at sense 2 perhaps with reference to the dark and diffuse cloud of ink into which a squid can disappear; compare earlier blur adj. Additions.
Singapore English and Malaysian English.
1. Squid or cuttlefish.
1833 Singapore Chron. 24 Oct. 4/2
Exports... By the Dutch Brig Sala Sala Madura... Sotong Fish.
1909 Singapore Free Press 21 Jan. 1/5
Before 10 o'clock we had captured over a hundred ‘sotong’.
1972 New Nation
(Singapore)
7 Oct. 7/4
Huge enamel bowls carrying..‘sotong’ (squid)..sit temptingly on the shelves.
1995 New Straits Times
(Malaysia)
(Nexis)
24 Feb. 35
I have tried making the curry but the sotong is always hard no matter how long I cook it.
2012 S. Wee Growing Up in Nyonya Kitchen 225
This delicious soup of sotong stuffed with minced pork.
1833—2012(Hide quotations)
2. Used to denote a stereotypically stupid, clumsy, or ignorant person, esp. in blur as (a) sotong , blur like (a) sotong . Cf. blur adj. Additions.
1988 New Paper
(Singapore)
7 Sept. 17/1
Last night's Brainstorm started with the defending champion claiming he was ‘blur as a sotong’.
1995 Business Times
(Singapore)
(Nexis)
22 Nov.
Ah Fatt, why you blur like sotong?
2006 Straits Times
(Singapore)
(Nexis)
26 Nov.
I used to be called Sotong when I was in school because of my name and my ‘blur’ ways.
2008 D. Leo Life's so like Dat
(rev. ed.)
18
Don't be a selfish sotong.
1988—2008(Hide quotations)