Welcome to Ting-Apore 
I must first say that I am so happy that winter seems to be fading away slowly but surely. More importantly I must say that next year, I won't have to deal with any winter weather at all…none whatsoever!!! Yippee!! I am feeling a tad anxious today because I found out that the York Mobility Bursary for my exchange will not be released until sometime after June 1st, which is long after I will need to book a flight to my new digs. The flight is $1900 return and that is also, coincidentally, the amount the scholarship is worth. Fingers are crossed that I receive said scholarship. PLEASE!!! I am sure that everything will fall into place though. I also sent an email to a Prof. in the Theatre Studies Dept. at NUS who studied at York as well, so I am hoping to speak with her and maybe even have a chance to T.A. or something. Moving on, I have decided that I will use this blog opportunity to teach all of you some Singlish. Singlish is a hybrid language that has been developed in Singapore and is spoken among its citizens. It is every citizens second language and it is spoken by nearly all young people. Its usage in schools and in political venues is strongly discouraged however because it prevents people from learning English properly. The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, and Indic and Sinitic languages, while Singlish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series. In the year 2000, the Singapore government launched a "speak good english" campaign. Singapore is really trying to get rid of the language all together. It looks pretty funny on paper and I am certain it will sound even funnier and be mildly confusing upon arrival. I will no doubt end up staring blankly at many a Singaporean before too long.
There is a lot of Singlish to be learned but I will limit this lesson to some simple words and phrases
Ting- think/thought
ah beng - spiky haired, punky, loudly dresses young men
ah lian - the female version of the above
alamak! - exclamation of disbelief "oh my god"
cheena - derogatory term for old-fashioned Chinese fashion
kena - closely related to 'got' in English ex. He kena arrested
makan - a meal; to eat
Ay-Jay - pig-Latin and Singlish word for gay
On - slang for gay "Is he on?"
There is a lot more to know indeed, you can check out the dictionary at http://www.talkingcock.com/ which is Singapore's satirical website. Study up and keep tinging
Bye bye and I wish you all much heng and until next time lah?
I must first say that I am so happy that winter seems to be fading away slowly but surely. More importantly I must say that next year, I won't have to deal with any winter weather at all…none whatsoever!!! Yippee!! I am feeling a tad anxious today because I found out that the York Mobility Bursary for my exchange will not be released until sometime after June 1st, which is long after I will need to book a flight to my new digs. The flight is $1900 return and that is also, coincidentally, the amount the scholarship is worth. Fingers are crossed that I receive said scholarship. PLEASE!!! I am sure that everything will fall into place though. I also sent an email to a Prof. in the Theatre Studies Dept. at NUS who studied at York as well, so I am hoping to speak with her and maybe even have a chance to T.A. or something. Moving on, I have decided that I will use this blog opportunity to teach all of you some Singlish. Singlish is a hybrid language that has been developed in Singapore and is spoken among its citizens. It is every citizens second language and it is spoken by nearly all young people. Its usage in schools and in political venues is strongly discouraged however because it prevents people from learning English properly. The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, and Indic and Sinitic languages, while Singlish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series. In the year 2000, the Singapore government launched a "speak good english" campaign. Singapore is really trying to get rid of the language all together. It looks pretty funny on paper and I am certain it will sound even funnier and be mildly confusing upon arrival. I will no doubt end up staring blankly at many a Singaporean before too long.
There is a lot of Singlish to be learned but I will limit this lesson to some simple words and phrases
Ting- think/thought
ah beng - spiky haired, punky, loudly dresses young men
ah lian - the female version of the above
alamak! - exclamation of disbelief "oh my god"
cheena - derogatory term for old-fashioned Chinese fashion
kena - closely related to 'got' in English ex. He kena arrested
makan - a meal; to eat
Ay-Jay - pig-Latin and Singlish word for gay
On - slang for gay "Is he on?"
There is a lot more to know indeed, you can check out the dictionary at http://www.talkingcock.com/ which is Singapore's satirical website. Study up and keep tinging
Bye bye and I wish you all much heng and until next time lah?
4 comments:
Alamak! You forget to justify your text lah. People gonna ting you ah beng wit no-so-good webdesign skill lah.
Also, i ting you need paragraphs lah.
You need to be justified more-like Mister Tokyo-Tintin. Kidding. Thanks for the assistance thus far on the creation of my little blog. Much appreciated.
My pleasure lah.
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