Ah Bright Bright

I went home with Ace the other day and saw my grandma (that’s my granny on my father’s side) playing with my son.

She would point to his cheek and say, “Qie..” (which is teochew for ‘smile’) and he will smile. Wah lau, I din know my son is a language genius and can understand teochew without anyone teaching him!

Then I saw her doing a strange thing. She started saying, “Ah geng geng, ah geng geng..” to Ace and he smiled VERY HAPPILY.

I was so amazed!

I thought we say, “Ang goo goo” to children. I have never heard of “Ah geng geng” and so I asked my grandma what it was.

According to my grandma who is 83 years old, that is baby talk. Babies love it and no one can explain why. When I asked her what it means, she says it merely means, “Ah bright bright” (when loosely translated into English) in the teochew dialect.

I tried saying it to him and he smiled. My dad says it to him and he smiles.. it is almost like a magic word!

Mummies, you might want to try it on your babies and let me know if it works with babies who are non-teochews :)