Alaudin Awang Noor:

Titip.

I was surprised when I couldn't translate this word to English in Google Translate. I mean, it's such a simple, common word.

Quick Google search gave me this: "Titip": A truly Indonesian phenomenon?

Along with many others.

Turns out that in English, they didn't have any single idea about this concept of having someone do our job a little for free.

So, what is 'titip', really?

For example, say that I live with my brother. I have some friends, including this one girl which he had a crush on. Here are some examples where this ‘titip’ could be happening:

• One day, I'm going to go to her house. My brother wanted to give her a flower, but he didn't have time to meet with her directly. Then he asked me to bring the flower, and when I arrived, I will give it to her (and let her know that it's from my brother). In this case, my brother 'titip' a flower to me (to send it to someone else).
• I'm about to wash my many clothes in the washing machine. My brother has a single T-shirt that he wanted to wash too, so he give it to me. I put and wash it alongside my clothes. In this case, he 'titip' his T-Shirt (to wash).
• My brother is about to go to grocery store. I asked him to buy me an instant noodle, and when he arrive back home, I will give him the money to pay for the instant noodle and he will give me my instant noodle. In this case, I 'titip' him to buy an instant noodle.
• I'm about to meet my friends. My brother wanted me to ‘say hi' to his crush. So when I meet her, I tell her “My brother gave 'salam' (salam means greetings) to you”. So, my brother is 'titip salam' to me (to his crush). This is a similar concept to western idea of “Tell him that I say hello, okay?”

Do you get it? I hope you get it. There are various ways where ‘titip' applies, and on top of that, it also translates to various different phrase in English. But essentially, 'titip' means that we ask someone to do us a favor for free.

But there are some social rules controlling it.

For the person asking to ‘titip', he should mind that the favor should not be a much burden, instead the person doing a favor should barely notice any difference to his usual activity. And when the other party failed to deliver the 'titip', he is expected not to be upset (since he is doing the favor for free, remember?).

And for the person being asked for 'titip', he is expected to do that for free without hesitation and hard feelings, as he is also able to ask for 'titip' to someone else later.

Should one of the party missed those rules, the relationship between them will be damaged a little. That's why 'titip' is actually a heavy social setup and should only be executed between close friends where they already understand the character, do and don'ts, social context, and other subtext rules of each other.

'titip' is very convenient and versatile word, and I think English will benefit a lot to adopt this innocent, human concept.

source: Quora