tikam-tikam

English

Borrowed from Malay tikam-tikam (“to stab repeatedly; to choose randomly”), a reduplication of tikam.

tikam-tikam (uncountable)

(Malaysia, Singapore) A kind of lucky draw or lottery-like game popular throughout the 1950s to the 1970s; usually, prizes are won by pulling slips of paper or numbered tickets from a board.
- 2013, Kok Yang Tan, From the Blue Windows: Recollections of Life in Queenstown, Singapore, in the 1960s and 1970s, Ridge Books, →ISBN:
  Because school children were forgoing food to play tikam-tikam games with their pocket money, hawkers were eventually banned from selling tikam-tikam to children.
- 2019, Yik Kwei, The Adventurous Streak - Revised, Partridge Publishing Singapore, →ISBN:
  By day, she sold entrance tickets to those who wanted to try their luck at the teeming gambling stalls within the “City Park”, catering to the Chinese residents in the town. By night, she assisted at a pinball stall, collecting tickets and putting out tennis balls for a game of “tikam tikam”.

tikam-tikam (invariable)

(Manglish, Singlish) To choose (something) at random.
- 2021 December, Yap Swi Neo, You Might Want To Marry My Husband: Reflections from Life, Monsoon Books Pte. Limited, →ISBN:
  They cannot complain. Tikam-tikam means, play with chance. Sometimes win, sometimes lose.
- 2023 March 3, Sophia Shi Yin Chin, Dancing On The Edge Of Greatness: Making Leadership Personal, World Scientific Publishing Company, →ISBN:
  Some days, it felt more like gambling than expert precision: Just tikam-tikam, lah! (Malay for “choose randomly,” commonly used by impatient people queueing to buy 4D tickets).

tikam-tikam (not comparable)

(Manglish, Singlish) Arbitrarily chosen; characterized by random choices.
- 2018 December 30, koja6049, lowyat.net‎^[1]:
  it's open secret that finance industry is all tikam tikam one.