Night Owl Chatterboxes - Part LV
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I'm hungry ... should I go forage ? ...
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You know which other accent sounds pretty close to the typical Singaporean accent?
A Black South African's accent!
I kid you not! Close your eyes, listen to them talk, and you might easily mistake them for a semi-Singaporean accent! Accents that are horrible on the ears I'd consider to be the PRC accent, the Hong Kong accent, and the bad Malaysian accent.
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Originally posted by shrekho:
Preserve the culture, enhance the basics.
Language itself is a way of communications for one another, am I right? is it possible to speak fluent english and expect some very low level but highly skilled people to understand the meaning? Would it be better to use singlish?
Example: Uncle Wong tells his carpenter, My dear craftsman, would you please enlighthen the corners of your fabulous work piece and curved out the replacement joints with dove tails?
His craftsman will say : huh????
But if it's this: Eh uncle, tat corner ah, ah , "yong hei lei" (use that) dove joint, "ka hao kan" (better looking)
His craftsman will say :ok eh sai... no problem!
:)
Like we have said, there's a time and place for everything. Commonsense dictates that you have to do what's necessary to communicate.
However, all said, our point is, Singlish should not be accepted as English.
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Originally posted by shrekho:
Preserve the culture, enhance the basics.
Language itself is a way of communications for one another, am I right? is it possible to speak fluent english and expect some very low level but highly skilled people to understand the meaning? Would it be better to use singlish?
Example: Uncle Wong tells his carpenter, My dear craftsman, would you please enlighthen the corners of your fabulous work piece and curved out the replacement joints with dove tails?
His craftsman will say : huh????
But if it's this: Eh uncle, tat corner ah, ah , "yong hei lei" (use that) dove joint, "ka hao kan" (better looking)
His craftsman will say :ok eh sai... no problem!
:)
There's no need for exaggeration, 'It'll look nicer with dovetail joints, can it be done?' will do. That's another misconception that we need to stamp out.
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Might have mentioned this before, but...
A few years ago, a good friend and I were having dinner at a steakhouse located in a farming community way out in the boondocks, about an hour from the Twin Cities. Good food and huge portions for not a lot of money.
When we took our table, we noticed there was a large group of Asians (about ten, if memory serves) at another table across the crowded dining room. I didn't think anything of it until, amid the cacophony of chatter from the other diners, I barely made out an "Alamak!" and an errant "Lah!" seemingly from the direction of their table.
The group had finished their meal not long after we arrived, and as they shuffled past our table on their way out, I casually asked one of them if they were Malaysian or Singaporean.
Turned out the group comprised both! They were students from the University of Minnesota who had decided to venture a bit farther away from the Twin Cities for dinner that evening.
Singaporeans may venture far and wide in the world, but their Singlish will always stay with them and serve as a "secret handshake" that identifies them to each other. Now, that can't be a bad thing, can it?
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
And other way is to treat other people well. Be reasonable and polite with service providers, thank them, respect the differences in culture and infrastructure and "do in Rome as the Romans do".
There is one category of people I'm automatically rude to - Telemarketers.
Actually, I'm more curt than rude. Yesterday, on my day off, I was working on the PC when the phone rang. I hesitated to pick it up but it was right beside me, so I did. The minute the lad identified himself and the organisation he was representing, I cut him short and told him, "Sorry, but I won't be continuing with this call!" and hung up.
Don't waste my precious time off. At least, I don't taunt telemarketers and test their patience like a few of my colleagues do!
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
You know which other accent sounds pretty close to the typical Singaporean accent?
A Black South African's accent!
I kid you not! Close your eyes, listen to them talk, and you might easily mistake them for a semi-Singaporean accent! Accents that are horrible on the ears I'd consider to be the PRC accent, the Hong Kong accent, and the bad Malaysian accent.
My ex-classmate is dating one. I should ask her.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
There's no need for exaggeration, 'It'll look nicer with dovetail joints, can it be done?' will do. That's another misconception that we need to stamp out.
True! Or more succintly, "Uncle, this one, put there, can?"
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
There's no need for exaggeration, 'It'll look nicer with dovetail joints, can it be done?' will do. That's another misconception that we need to stamp out.
Oh, you should have heard what my Local CEO said to the carpenter... He was trying to be nice... but....You understand...
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
At least, I don't taunt telemarketers and test their patience like a few of my colleagues do!
That's so mean and yet priceless.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
My ex-classmate is dating one. I should ask her.
Yeah, go ask her!
I do enjoy hearing different accents, with a few exceptions. The only thing jarring is, bad grammar, in any accent!
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
That's so mean and yet priceless.
Oh, one of them likes to pretend to be a demented old man and keeps repeating the same questions to the poor telemarketer!
He'll ask them to work out the cost of a certain plan, and then talk about another one, and then apologise for having a poor memory and ask him to repeat the price of the first plan again. -
Originally posted by shrekho:
Oh, you should have heard what my Local CEO said to the carpenter... He was trying to be nice... but....You understand...
i don't blame the carpenter, most of em didn't even complete secondary school education..
but the young carpenters should have no excuse, but yet so few of them are actually singaporeans..
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Originally posted by shrekho:
Oh, you should have heard what my Local CEO said to the carpenter... He was trying to be nice... but....You understand...
That should have been recorded for laughing-at at home.
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Watch this video and laugh!
I've experienced the same frustration trying to call for customer service here, but this video is really funny!
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
Oh, one of them likes to pretend to be a demented old man and keeps repeating the same questions to the poor telemarketer!
He'll ask them to work out the cost of a certain plan, and then talk about another one, and then apologise for having a poor memory and ask him to repeat the price of the first plan again. He must've had a lot of time to kill, or had been trawling the web for such cunning plans.
I just witnessed a moron drive his/her SUV into 3 parked cars downstairs, and then speed away.
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baaaaacon sandwiches ....
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
He must've had a lot of time to kill, or had been trawling the web for such cunning plans.
I just witnessed a moron drive his/her SUV into 3 parked cars downstairs, and then speed away.
Did you get a license number? -
Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
He must've had a lot of time to kill, or had been trawling the web for such cunning plans.
I just witnessed a moron drive his/her SUV into 3 parked cars downstairs, and then speed away.
What an irresponsible idiot! -
Originally posted by Fatum:
baaaaacon sandwiches ....
Ah, the Heartstopper Special!
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OK, bedtime!! Goodnight, folks!!
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Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:
Did you get a license number?I managed to get only the colour, make and model of the vehicle. But if he's parking around this estate it should be easy to track him down.
FATUM! Wanna go jogging with me and do some good?
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
I managed to get only the colour, make and model of the vehicle. But if he's parking around this estate it should be easy to track him down.
FATUM! Wanna go jogging with me and do some good?
one should exerciese right after meals ....
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Hey, Rhonda, just curious: are you making any progress towards obtaining Australian PR status?
