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Snapshots from Asia: To 'Chope' a Seat

Posted by Wan Yan Ling, July 12, 2007 at 2:15 PM

In Singapore, to chope something is roughly the equivalent of "I bag this!" or "I've got dibs!" Growing up, my brother and I would race to the family sedan, competing to slap our palms against the front passenger’s seat window—the first to get there and hence winner would yell chope! loud and clear, thus claiming his “prize” for the road trip.

Chope is also a talisman of sorts to ward off “evil”: in grown-up terms, whoever yells chope last gets to inform the boss of the firm’s budget deficit. In this case, what looks like an innocuous pack of tissues on a hawker center or food court stool is actually shorthand for “Chope! This seat is taken!” Bewildered tourists have often mistaken them for local gestures of generosity—how kind of that nice lady or gentleman to take pity on the sweltering foreigner and offer a pack of paper napkins for relief! But tourist beware: Usurp the seat and you will be faced with one rattled local.

Serious Eaters may be wondering: Why not a backpack or a carrier to denote temporary ownership then? Why a pack of tissues? In a country of naturally cautious residents, the thought pattern runs thus: No one would steal a half-used pack of tissues worth all of 10¢, but the meaning of chope is universal.

Photograph by Shimin Wong

About the author: Wan Yan Ling, Serious Eats's overseas summer intern, is an impoverished grad student and sourdough finger-crosser living in Singapore. She can usually be found in the kitchen procrastinating on "real work," or online tracking down obscure recipes. Ling thinks eating alone is no fun, and she still believes in hand-mixing.

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