Definition of "Kiasu"
Kiasu is made up of two Chinese Hokkien words. "Kia" means fear, while "su" means lose. It is a phrase used to describe a person who has such high ego that he/she afraid or could not stand to lose to others.
In our competitive world, we need to strive so hard to be the best among others. It is actually a good attitude for us to keep up hard in the race to success, in another word is to be "a little bit kiasu". But when it comes to an extend that competition is so extreme, people tend to forget their actual goal and lose their true identity. They will show their high ego-ness without humble and try to pin you down as hard as possible.
A few extreme examples of Kiasu as below:-
1) You know a person is Kiasu when he could not accept others opinions and comments at all.
He thought that what he did was perfectly correct. When he is asking for people's opinion or comments, he is expecting you to agree with. If you did the other way round, that means war. I used to hang out with a bunch of friends, and I can see that one of them is very "Kiasu". When others are giving opinion, he will bump in and object to any opinion. But sometimes, the conclusion he gave is exactly what others was proposing. *Laugh*.
2) You know a person is Kiasu when he keeps on showing off abbreviation one owns.
When I was in college, there was a lecturer who complained to us that a professor from Singapore is very Kiasu. He told us that the professor started his speech by introducing his professional certification and PHD, used up first 20 minutes just to show off his qualification and recognition before he moved into the real subject.
3) You know a person is Kiasu when he uses a lot of personal attack.
He will pin you down by using a lot of personal attacks. He do not look into a matter through logic and facts anymore. Even if he is wrong, he will still condemn you fiercely with personal attacks to cover up his mistakes. He is hoping that by using personal attacks, he can alter the attention from his mistake to your weakness.
4) You know a person is Kiasu when he thought that he is far better than others.
He thought that he is the best and people around him are low level species, idiots or simply ignorable. He might say "you are not qualified to give such comments", "your knowledge level is too low which makes you came up with the bad idea", bla bla bla...
5) You know a person is Kiasu when he starve for positive appraisal.
He is always looking for ways to get people's acknowledgment. If he successfully did something, he will announce it to the world and let other people praise him. I remember when I went camping, a guy successfully started the camp fire, he purposely look at someone close to him and say loudly "Like this mah can liao lor, you don't need to bla bla bla....." as if want to let the whole world knows he is the one successfully did it. He was trying to get girls' attention =.=".
These "Kiasu"s are living among us, *sigh*. But you need not be fearful, do not let them affect your ego and emotions. Set your own target and work hard towards the goal. In the end, you can prove to those "Kiasu" people that they already "su" you no matter how "kia" they are.
Competition is good, but it does not need to go to an extend of extreme "Kiasu" stage.
In our competitive world, we need to strive so hard to be the best among others. It is actually a good attitude for us to keep up hard in the race to success, in another word is to be "a little bit kiasu". But when it comes to an extend that competition is so extreme, people tend to forget their actual goal and lose their true identity. They will show their high ego-ness without humble and try to pin you down as hard as possible.
A few extreme examples of Kiasu as below:-
1) You know a person is Kiasu when he could not accept others opinions and comments at all.
He thought that what he did was perfectly correct. When he is asking for people's opinion or comments, he is expecting you to agree with. If you did the other way round, that means war. I used to hang out with a bunch of friends, and I can see that one of them is very "Kiasu". When others are giving opinion, he will bump in and object to any opinion. But sometimes, the conclusion he gave is exactly what others was proposing. *Laugh*.
2) You know a person is Kiasu when he keeps on showing off abbreviation one owns.
When I was in college, there was a lecturer who complained to us that a professor from Singapore is very Kiasu. He told us that the professor started his speech by introducing his professional certification and PHD, used up first 20 minutes just to show off his qualification and recognition before he moved into the real subject.
3) You know a person is Kiasu when he uses a lot of personal attack.
He will pin you down by using a lot of personal attacks. He do not look into a matter through logic and facts anymore. Even if he is wrong, he will still condemn you fiercely with personal attacks to cover up his mistakes. He is hoping that by using personal attacks, he can alter the attention from his mistake to your weakness.
4) You know a person is Kiasu when he thought that he is far better than others.
He thought that he is the best and people around him are low level species, idiots or simply ignorable. He might say "you are not qualified to give such comments", "your knowledge level is too low which makes you came up with the bad idea", bla bla bla...
5) You know a person is Kiasu when he starve for positive appraisal.
He is always looking for ways to get people's acknowledgment. If he successfully did something, he will announce it to the world and let other people praise him. I remember when I went camping, a guy successfully started the camp fire, he purposely look at someone close to him and say loudly "Like this mah can liao lor, you don't need to bla bla bla....." as if want to let the whole world knows he is the one successfully did it. He was trying to get girls' attention =.=".
These "Kiasu"s are living among us, *sigh*. But you need not be fearful, do not let them affect your ego and emotions. Set your own target and work hard towards the goal. In the end, you can prove to those "Kiasu" people that they already "su" you no matter how "kia" they are.
Competition is good, but it does not need to go to an extend of extreme "Kiasu" stage.
Labels: Feelings
posted by Jen at
10:25 AM
1 Comments
