Singapore, lah

Seeing as it's National Day I thought I would give you a little insight into Singapore English. When I was looking into Singapore I was comforted to know that English was the official language. And while that might be true, they have a language all of their own, handily called Singlish.

Let me give you some examples:

lah - put on the end of any sentence for emphasis. Eg. 'eat lah' which means 'go on, start eating'.

can - this one comes up in school a lot. Eg. 'Can I go to the toilet? Can? Can?'

cannot - my usual response to the above. Extra emphasis on the not required.

actually - put in where there is no need whatsoever. Eg. 'The Japanese actually took over Singapore in 1942 and actually renamed it.' What is 'actually' adding to that sentence? Nothing!

Is it - added to the end of any statement to make it a question. Eg. 'Assembly at 8.30am, is it?'

Auntie/uncle - cleaners, taxi drivers and generally people of a certain age. Children are encouraged to call older people this. I find it a little disturbing. The only people who should be called auntie or uncle are Holiday Bible Club and Sunday School leaders in the 1980s.

Pass up - again, this comes up in school a lot because it means to hand in. Eg. 'Do we have to pass up this work to you at the end?' Teachers in school will often 'pass' things to each other as oppose to give them, eg. 'can you pass me the key?'

Because why - used in the way you'd expect, eg 'We need to be on the bus by 6.30. Because why? We have to be there by 7.00am'.

Scold - used a lot more here than at home. Students get scolded for their grades, and teachers scold bad students.

dey/den/dis/dere - they/then/this/there

oreddy - already but used in a different way, eg 'dey go dere oreddy', but this could mean 'they're there now' or 'they have been and are back'.

Handphone - abbreviated to Hp, this is your mobile.

not - Used to make a question. Eg. You got rice or not?

To conclude this ra ra Singapore Day you should watch this. One of my First Years showed me it the other day. It's pretty much our course in a fun MTV style video. You can go here for an explanation of all.