It's funny but when I was about in my teens, I did wonder why we say hangout whenever we go to mamak or went clubbing. I always assumed that we say 'hangout' meaning we 'let go' or let things 'hang' but I was wrong.
Apparently, here's what it means.
In the early days when the English Language was still developing, it seems that a business place is called a hangout. (Ack!) If you have a grocery shop, that's your hangout. But it is restricted to mean that it's a place where you run or own a business. If you work in an advertising firm, that's NOT your hangout, that's your torture palace!
It seems that the term originated from a time when they didn't have the large signboards that we have today. Last time, they literally HANG OUT a sign in front of the door to indicate that they have a business there. As in "Ah Kow Barber" or "Que Que Massage Parlor". Hence, back in the oldern days, they usually ask each other, "So! Where you hang out your sign ah?"
I was kind of a little sad when I read the news about this - there will be no live-in Indonesian maids in Malaysia anymore . There are pros and cons to having a live-in maid, as with everything else, but for us, we enjoyed more pros than cons. Back then, when my kids were little, we brought in a family of maids to help with...well, just about everything, and we were like two families merged into one. They ate what we ate, we sleep, they sleep, we shop, they shop, they joke, we laugh, we joke, they laugh...for me, the maid I hired was more like a sister and side-kick to me. For that few years, I was dependent on her to mind-read my schedule and when I need or don't need help. She picked things up quickly and we ended up having lots of moments whereby we were in sync. Today, two of them are on my Facebook and we were gleefully chatting over Facebook Messenger since they've just discovered the wonders of the Internet and Social Media. Since we were more like partners in crim...
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