Singlish spoken here - so far
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.SINGAPORE, THE island state that banned chewing gum as a public menace, has turned its attention to the language spoken by its long-suffering citizens.
The target is "Singlish", a hotchpotch of English and Malay, with Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. Its cosmopolitan vocabulary in a Chinese sentence structure is usually unintelligible to English speakers.
The question "Are you confused?" comes out as "You blur like sotong?" while "Stop messing about" is "Don't pray pray, lah." And the latest Austin Powers film, The Spy Who Shagged Me, was released here as The Spy who Shioked Me: "shiok" means any enjoyable experience. The basics of Singlish are easy to pick up: just add "lah" to the end of your sentences - although this can change to a "leh" or a "lor" depending on the meaning.
The Senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, responsible for the ban on chewing gum, has called for Singlish to be actively discouraged in favour of Mandarin Chinese - which Singa- poreans have been told is "a modern and vibrant language that is a key to a whole world of opportunities".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments