Don't ali baba me!

Usually at the mention of “Ali baba”, most people will think of the fictional Arab woodcutter who outwitted 40 thieves. The more savvy of us would think of the online trading marketplace. Some might even think of Turkish kebabs and shishas - for no other reasons other than because the word sounds middle eastern!

The very same clever friend who taught me how to “Zzz” also taught me many new and wonderful usage of the word “Ali baba”. I feel obliged to promote these newfangled definitions here so that I can henceforth use this phrase freely in my blog without confused readers wondering why I keep referring to some Arab man.

Short of giving verbose explanations, here are some concise examples on how to use “ali baba” in conversations:

1. “She got me an ali baba no-brand wallet as birthday present! Grr!”
Means, “crappy”

2. “You don’t know how to climb this route? Just ali baba it lar!”
Means, “anyhow do”.

3. “He didn’t even turn up for our date! He ali baba-ed me!”
Means, “play you over”

4. “You don’t know how to spell hippopotamus? Why you so ali baba?”
Means, “dumb”.

5. “My cut wound has dried up. Now it looks ali baba”
Means, “gross”.

6. “My hairdresser is in a bad mood today. Now my hair looks ali baba”
Means, “ugliness personified”.

7. Eeks! Ali baba!
Means, a general exclaim of shock and disgust.

Kapish? Easy to use? Hehe…

The intermediate use of “ali-baba” involves doing a special “Open Sesame” song and dance (in Mandarin) simultaneously but I’ll save that for a later post….