A word used in Singlish (Singapore English) is kaypoh.
It is derived from the word 管家婆 guǎn jiā pó / "control house old-woman" / female housekeeper, for which the Hokkien dialect pronunciation is guan kay poh.
When shortened to kay poh, it means to be nosey, and is usually used as a noun, e.g., "You are such a kaypoh" (/ You are such a nosey parker / busybody).
I was in the unique batch of RI (Raffles Institution) students who straddled the old site at Bras Basah Road for Pre-U 1 and the (then) new one at Grange Road for Pre-U 2.
The main entrance was on the Grange Road side. We soon discovered (maybe in Week 1) that there was a way out through a smaller gate at the back which was more convenient for getting to Chinatown, so a few of us decided to use that exit to go for lunch in Chinatown.
That rear gate, we saw, led to a road called Kay Poh Road. A man was standing outside the first house, watching the unusual sight of a group of students walking past.
We burst into laughter. How appropriate! First house in Kay Poh Road and curious about these students walking down his road. Kaypoh No.1!
(Singapore, 1972)
* Googling the RI Grange Road site, I find that it was a Teochew [dialect] settlement/kampong and private pathways before RI built its replacement for the Bras Basah Road site.
* (from googling) Quote Singlish is Singapore's unique, informal English-based creole, blending English with words and grammar from Malay, Chinese dialects (Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin), and Tamil, creating a colorful local dialect with its own rhythm and particles like "lah" and "lor". It's an unofficial language reflecting Singapore's multiculturalism, used for everyday communication among locals to express identity and camaraderie, distinct from the formal Standard Singapore English. Unquote
