You might be wondering, what is “Chope”?

Known for its multicultural aspects, the people of Singapore includes the use of Singlish (or ‘Singaporean-English’) in their daily conversations. Few that you might have heard before are perhaps ‘lah’, ‘leh’, and ‘lor’. They are all part of the Singlish family, and the word we have selected – ‘chope’ is something unique to the country as well.

The culture of ‘chope-ing’ simply means reserving! Originally, it was used to describe the action of using common items such as umbrellas or tissue packets to reserve a seat on a table while getting food. Now, it has expanded beyond hawker centres and food courts; and is more widely used for anything else that is related to reserving.

For our fan project, we decided on the slogan: ‘Chope-ing our hearts for Sakurazaka46!‘ as a way to tell the members that no matter which part of the world we are from, a huge part of our hearts will always be reserved for them.

Example sentences:

1. “It’s lunchtime already ah? I better go chope a table for us before the peak hour crowd comes.” (It’s time for lunch? I should go reserve a table for us before the peak hour crowd comes.)
2. “Eh, don’t play-play ah, I already chope her to go see Sakurazaka46’s live with me next year. Go find someone else to go with you.” (Don’t joke around, we already made plans together to attend Sakurazaka46’s live next year. You should find someone else to attend it with you!)