Manglish, anyone?

That is Malaysian English, in case you’re wondering. 

This post is due to conversations, I recently had with some HongKongnese friends.  Some of them had visited Singapore and were curious with the English pronounciation there.  I know, I know… Singapore and Malaysia is separated by a bridge, but we’re actually more similar than we like to admit.  To summarise, here are some of the things that they observed about Singlish and Manglish:

• Why do Malaysians say “Can, one la”?  What purpose does the “one” have in that sentence? – This got me thinking too… and I honestly dont know why the need for the “one”, except that it sounds more convincing having it in there.
• How we like to say things in triplets, e.g. can, can, can or the infamous – correct, correct, correct! 
• Of cause, no sentence would be complete without the la, hor, ka, meh, ha… hey, its begining to sound like a musical.

I googled Manglish and found this wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manglish.  Wah, our brand of english is famous.  You’ll have a good laugh reading the various Manglish in wikipedia.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”  – Romeo and Juliet

Q & A on Malaysia’s political scene

This is soooooooooo hilarious.  I’m embarrassed to say that I dont know the right answer to most of these questions…. do you?
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Taken from Malaysia Today, during the time when Anwar was charged with sodomy II, the no-confidence motion, which didnt happen and the July 15 debate between Anwar and Shabery Cheek on fuel subsidies.
By TAY TIAN YAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily
Malaysians have a series of questions in their minds recently. They are about human science, legal knowledge and some human behaviours.

How long is the valid period for DNA?
A. One day
B. One year
C. 10 years
D. forever

Why they need new DNA?
A. The old DNA has exceeded the valid period
B. The old DNA is lost
C. They do not know how to use the old DNA
D. The old DNA belongs to somebody else

What is the role of a sworn statement?
A. Those who believe will believe and those who do not believe can just forget about it
B. It depends on whether the police believe it
C. It has no role
D. It depends on whether it is the first or the second sworn statement

The consequences of making a sworn statement
A. Will be charged
B. Will be protected
C. Will disappear
D. Will have to go for a long vacation

The highest risk industry in Malaysia’s
A. Politician
B. Detective
C. Blogger
D. Photojournalist

Why Anwar was arrested before the deadline?
A. Anwar intended to run away
B. The police was rushing for lunch
C. The police was rushing to treat Anwar curry rice
D. Massive traffic jams

What is the major cause of traffic jams?
A. To encourage the public to take LRT
B. To encourage consumption as Petronas’s profit surged
C. To prove that imported cars are as slow as local-made cars during traffic jams
D. To prove that the police did take action

What were the people trapped in traffic jams thinking?
A. Dare not to drive next time
B. Understand the police’s hard work
C. Join demonstrations
D. Hope that the general elections will be held soon

The feelings when watching the debate between Anwar and Shabery
A. Understand the reasons of increasing fuel prices
B. Finally understand why fuel oil prices should not be increased
C. Watch your mouth when you speak
D. Watch out for your saliva when you speak

The feelings after watching the debate between Anwar and Shabery
A. Very brave
B. Very pathetic
C. Goodbye, minister
D. Why didn’t the government recruit Mahathir?

Who should answer when children ask what is “sodomy”?
A. Parents
B. The Police Force
C. The Attorney-General
D. The Minister of Education

If a child asks what is “sodomy”, it shows that
A. He can be a policeman
B. He can be a prosecutor
C. He can join politics
D. He is destined to be a Malaysian

Trusting other races

I got this survey results from Malaysia Today, awhile back.  Its quite insightful, although I cant relate to it because I dont trust based on race or looks.  The funny thing that I observed from the results of this survey is that chinese are not very trusting people and viewed as not trust worthy by the other races…. even by their own. 
  
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During the second Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, the Merdeka Centre released a poll report, revealing that the three major races in Malaysia – Chinese, Malays and Indians did not trust in each other:
·         Only 39% of Chinese trusted in Malays, and 38% of Malays trusted in Chinese.
·         Only 29% of Chinese trusted in Indians, and 35% of Indians trusted in Chinese.
·         57% of Indians trusted in Malays, and 55% Malays trusted in Indians.
·         39% of Chinese and 46% of Indians considered themselves as second-class citizens.
·         83% of Malays trusted in Malays, 75% of Indians trusted in Indians and only 57% of Chinese trusted in Chinese.
·         78% of Chinese believed that local politicians should be blamed for segregating the people by playing racial politics. In other words, politicians who play around with racial issues should bear the greatest responsibility. Meanwhile, the survey’s conclusion stated that the mistrust remained prevalent is likely because of Malaysians’ views of each other’s religion, ethnicity and culture were confused.
The survey was done two years ago. The outcome was alarming, but not surprising. I believe that the results would be very likely the same if a similar survey is carried out today.

Thinking of grumbling? Better think twice

Another bit of interesting news I got from The Standard – HK’s free english newspaper. 

Chopped for grumbling

There are actually 2 stories in the article, although the header is the more interesting one.  The first story is about a woman who asked the chef to stay back and prepare a snack for her, at 430am.  Only to grumble that the snack wasnt up to standard.  So what was the chef to do???

2nd story is about 2 men, sharing tables (its quite common in HK, to “tap-toi”/share tables), ordered the same dish but one was served before the other.  Then all hell broke loose because of that and these two 70+ year-old, threw teapots at each other.  Wahhh…. dont mess with 70 yo uncles.  Respect!

Abraham Lincoln said..

“‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Hongkonger English names

I came across the following english names of HongKongers, while reading the newspapers and walking the streets …. in case you’re wondering, i didnt make up any of these.

Some may make you chuckle and some may even make you stump…. anyway, you’ll be surprised at their creativity.   Also to give some privacy to these names, I’ve removed some characters from their surnames.

• Hyper L_u
• Jackal Y_ng
• Eagle H_
• Van Ch_n
• Milk Ch_n
• Pharoah L_u
• Carrier Chi_w
• Lancy (… depending on how you pronounce it!) Ch_i
• Sicky W_n
• Empty T_e
• Prawn O_n

I’ll keep updating this list, as I find more interesting but bizarre names.  I wonder, what these people were thinking when they decided on their names.

You have a NICE DAY.

Update: 26 Sept 2008

A HongKongnese friend commented on this post and explained that HongKongnese dont choose english names for their meaning, but rather more for how it sounds.  He related this observation to me - He once saw this big print advert on the back of a bus.  The advert was for a tuition school and showed the picture of one of its popular teacher.  The teacher’s name was stated as A.Ho -

A could possibly be a shortform for something  or the persons’s name, but they thought nothing of it, to use it together with his surname.  I guess HongKongnese are simple people, with cleaner minds.  Boy, am I glad that my surname isnt HO.

Street vendor in Bangkok

A picture perfect moment – I took this picture (secretly, of cause), while she prepared food on the streets…..  I dont take many pretty pictures, so I’m quite proud of this.

why i’m so paranoid of food in HK…

Got this from The Standard-HK’s free english newspaper.

Hong Kong cake tainted with melamine (09-23, 2008 19:05) Authorities say the industrial chemical melamine has been found in a locally sold cake.The government said in a statement the substance was found in the Four Seas brand of strawberry flavored cake. Four Seas is a Hong Kong company. Government tests also found melamine in Chinese-made White Rabbit candies. Singapore food regulators also detected the chemical in the same sweets. Baby formula tainted with melamine has sickened nearly 53,000 Chinese infants and killed four. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photolog : Downtown Miami

I was fortunate to visit Miami, USA in late-Aug 08 and stayed at the very nice, Mandarin Oriental Miami.  The weather in Miami is somewhat similar to HK (in summer) and KL (year-round) – hot and humid.  This is a picture of the Miami Central Business District at sunset.  The CBD is practically a ghost town during weekends, you could lie on the road and not fear being run-over by a vehicle.. it was that deserted.  During weekends, the action is at the famous South Beach, where most people take the opportunity to show-off their well-toned bodies.  I was told that most of the young people living in Miami are actors/actresses or models waiting to be discovered, so that explains the higher ratio of good looking people/ per sq foot in Miami, compared to other cities that I’ve visited.

 

Sunset view of downtown Miami, taken from my hotel room.