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Di Bawoh Rang Ikang Kering
Random Ramblings of A Retired Retainer

JURRUH

Wednesday, March 18, 2009


There could be a time in Terengganu when parents had to decide who should be their son-in-law or , as the case maybe, daughter-in-law. When that happened, a couple of words describing the qualities of the prospective new member of the family would be bandied about.

The prospect would be good if the candidate is described as jurruh. A jurruh person is someone who is morally straight, upright,trustworthy and can be counted upon to do the right thing. A jurruh person is less likely to run away with the mother-in-law's subang bung and other jewellery. The kind of person who would do that is dak jurruh. He or she would not be the kind of person that semayang bang (prays) or posa re er (fast).

Another phrase that goes well with most jurruh person is tertek terning. Tertek terning is a description of how the person speaks, sits, eats and acts. Somehow, there is an unwritten Terengganu version of "Miss Emily's Book of Etiquette " that every Terengganu child is taught to comply with. Loud and ungraceful children would be admonished as kasor gegor (rough). These kids, if they do not change their ways, would grow up to be rejects when considered as prospective in-laws later.

There are persons, usually females, who do not achieve tertik terning but somehow does not fall into the dak jurruh or kasor gegor category. By disposition, these females are a bit bolder and outspoken but still graceful and pleasant. They are described as lepah laku. A lepah laku person will be at ease in any gatherings. You are welcomed to give your own definition of lepah laku. Mind you, lepah laku does not mean "beyond bought" as in dak laku. When considering daughters-in-law, there is a group of girls very low in the list. Terengganu folks call these kind of girls tinna garrek. Tinna is betina and garrek is maghrib. Thus if a girl goes out at maghrib time and not to the surau or mosque, she is not daughter-in-law material, even if your own son is a jinn.

Talking about choosing a life-partner made me think of the movie "Some Like It Hot". Most of you were not born yet when this film came out. The movie is about 2 musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) who had to disguise themselves as girls when running away from murderous gangsters. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon became Josephine and Daphne respectively and joined an all-girls band where Tony Curtis fell in love with Marilyn Monroe and a millionaire (Osgood Fielding III, played by Joe.E.Brown) was smitten by Daphne (Jack Lemmon). Daphne was trying very hard to convince Osgood that "she" was not the right girl for him:
" I cannnot have babies!"
"That's ok. We can adopt"
Finally, Jack Lemmon told the truth:
"Oh, you don't understand, Osgood! Ehhhh... I'm a man."
"Well, nobody's perfect"

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