Your Singlish Word of the Day is: Chope
Defn: Reserve, pre-book, claim
From chop; to leave a mark. Singaporeans have a habit of leaving objects (often tissue packets or umbrellas) on seats or tables to reserve them while they go and order. "Don't take this seat, I choped it already."
Choping can catch foreigners in tense situations because unless you know the convention, you can quite valid assess a restaurant table as vacant and when the prior claimants return, they usually take an aggressive stance believing their chope is as good as law.
Compare with Germans leaving towels on sun loungers around Costa del Sol hotel pools.
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