Maltese Word-Noises Other Languages Need To Adopt
The Maltese are skilled at many things, not least turning a monosyllabic noise into an entire sentence. It takes some precise inflections to justify responding to a long-winded story of a friend’s car crash with ‘IL!’.
Here are a few of said noises that could really help foreigners along:
1. Ħeq
“Can you believe Sarah? She’s dating someone else! We only broke up four years ago!”
“Ħeq.”
2. Ħaqq
“Did you put the mqarrun in the oven?”
“… Ħaqq.”
3. Kos
“We can’t pass from there today, there’s the festa.“
“Kos!”
4. Boq
“Did we ever catch Kony?”
“Boq.”
5. Eh?
“Chemistry A-level? Uwijja it’s not that hard.”
“Eh?”
6. Eeh
(as in the stretched out, first part of ‘exactly’)
“Just pay someone to go and do it for you!”
“Eeh.”
7. Eee
(as in the last part of ‘bee’)
“It’s simple enough, that’s what Sarah did!”
“Eee.”
7. Uu
Variation 1: [if only you knew]
(as in the ‘ohh’ of ‘ohh you’re in trouble’)
“Did you see those rude GIFs on Lovin Malta? Where did they get them from?”
“Uuu”
Variation 2: [this is not my concern]
“Julie and Ludwig broke up again, should we meet them to see if they’re ok?”
“Uuuu”
8. Ħill
*Driving anywhere close to a roundabout in Malta*
“Ħiiill!”
9. Uff
Variation 1: [that sucks!]
“I wanted to take part in Eurovision, but Ira entered this year.”
“Uff!”
Variation 2: [I agree, it’s hot!]
“Cancel Paceville. There’s no way my hair’s gonna survive this humidity.”
“Uff.”
10. Aw
Variation 1: [be careful]
“I bumped my head earlier, but I’m fine now – my left eye twitches a bit, but I’m fine”
“Aw.”
Variation 2: [it’s been known to happen]
“Luckily we don’t get a lot of murders in Malta.”
“Aw.”
11. Ma
Variation 1: [how scary]
“I saw on Facebook that if you eat raw pork you get Zika”
“Ma!”
Variation 2: [how annoying]
“And then Randolph told my nanna, who’s his aunt’s cousin, that I refused to kiss him”
“Maaa”