We had a new promoter that joined us this week.
He left Singapore to study in Canada and stayed there for over 20 years.
Came back to Singapore 3 years ago as his mom is ill...
Our story almost same same.
I must share this hilarious culture shock story about him getting use to Singlish and Singdarin all over again!
While waiting in line to buy our wanton mee, he heard the lady in front of him placed her order.
"Wanton mee 加面包."
Puzzled, he asked the hawker when his turn came, "Do we add bread to wanton mee nowadays?"
The hawker looked just as lost and puzzled. Then burst out laughing!
"Orh! Its wanton mee 加面 (additional noodles); 包 (takeaway) lah!"
That's the hallmark of Singlish and Singdarin!
We super efficient or what?
Cut out lots of extra words and what grammar?
Use the bare minimum of words to express oursleves.
A lot of blanks for missing words are "understooded".
We also like to rojak everything.
Wanton is Cantonese.
Mee is Hokkien.
加面包 is Mandarin.
Come to think of it, although I call myself a "trader", I'm very Singlish and Singdarin when it comes to my investing and trading!
LOL!
https://www.facebook.com/yahoolifestylesg/videos/555773554909304/?t=12
ReplyDeletePatty,
DeletePower right?
Can?
Can.
Can???
Can lah!!!
Only Malaysians and Singaporeans can appreiate such brevity and minimalistic way of having conversations :)
Is there pause in between?
ReplyDeleteWanton mee .. Jia mee . Bao.
:-)
CW,
DeleteYou try saying it lor! See you got pause or not ;)
Which is more ""natural"?
Its not about pause or not pause. More about intonation like in the "can" conversation above ;)
At the Holland Village hawker center, I order my wanton me, 大红包; or 大红吃 without pause.
红 is that store's code for chilli.
I believe Singlish's minimalist feature is mainly inherited from the Chinese language since Singapore's population is majority Chinese. 成语 can squeeze a lot of meaning into 4 characters. In fact, many stories from Chinese history are squeezed into 成语. Translating some of these 成语 into English is a bit too mouthful. Deep Chinese philosophical concepts can be summarized into 2 characters - 无为. Are you into Taoist philosophy?
ReplyDeleteWhile Singlish may hold Singaporeans back when communicating to the outside world, it has its use in giving us a unique identity. I feel a kind of emotional bond when speaking Singlish with other Singaporeans, particularly during times when I feel like a minority in my own country.
Singlish is a unique evolutionary creation of Singaporeans and is a kind of soft cultural power that unites us as Singaporeans.
Send my sincere respects to this new colleague of yours who made the sacrifice to come back to fulfill his filial duties. Putting down everything accumulated after 20 years in a foreign country to come back to home for mama is respectable.
ReplyDeletehyom,
ReplyDelete1) Yes, I do practice some aspects of Taoism.
Taoism's 无为 is the opposite of "wah kali gong" Confucianism ;)
Chinese culture is the rojak between Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
How to be man of leisure if I've not been "kissed" by the bohemian spirit of Taoism?
LOL!
2) I told my new colleague (he is more a competitor) that's how we discover we are Asians after all. His mom got cancer.