Saturday, January 28, 2006
singlish
"Singlish" Is the unofficial language of Singapore. The more proper Singaperisians frown on it (Like most older people when they hear the next generations spin on the vernacular).
Rather than try to imitate Singlish I thought I’d post an i-chat I had with some of the people from the office. Obviously, they have real names but just to keep it simple I’ll just use their initials. It’s tough to separate out the I-chat abbreviations and the phonetic spelling. But you kind of get a clue as to how people talk around here. I was trying to find out what where I should go for the Chinese New Year celebration. For some reason, they were all crowded into one office.
u may wan to check out the lunar new year celebrations @ these places: the marina, the padang (the 1 we see out of our office) & chinatown. there will be fireworks , lion dances, strange (to you) foods & lots of gay (happy) people.
hahahah!!! guess who is teaching me to write ya...
2:45 PM
what day are they doing this?
hold on Rob this is "M" here using to check something
are you all in there?
yes
I'M MISSING THE PARTY?
Cocktails?
2:50 PM
hahahha!!! me "s" back again.... the fireworks will be held tomolo night, ready for the countdown @ 12midnight. Pls watch out for the SPGs (Sarong Party Girls) FYI, tis SYTs (Sweet Young Things) except for the occasional Ah Kwa (prefer GWEI-LOS) (white expats)
Free Singish lesson from "H".
thanks ...la
hahahha!!!
Cheers! Wish U good luck!
thanks,
I like to kid one of the guys in the office (H) that he has a bit of an obsession with gay people. It really bugs him and I think it’s funny. I think he’s trying to zing me back by implying that I’m cursing for “Ah Kaw”. The women in the office get a big kick out of it. I guess it started on my third day on the job when I walked into the office and said to the crew,
“where do you go in this town for some really good gay sex?” And "H" knew. (For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not really gay or looking for prostitutes, I just like to keep people on their toes.)
The “Ah Kwa” he was talking about is their term for a transvestite prostitute. "H" says you should check the baggage compartment before getting on the train.
Which brings me to another translation/ Chinese New year delema:
This is Bak kwa. It is pounded and roasted meat. It is a traditional snack on Chinese New year. I had some and it’s very good. I’m just a little hesitant about ordering it, as the word is a little too close to Ah Kwa. Given the way I mumble and have a proficiency for butchering peoples native tongue, one wonders what I’d really get.
Another thing I learned that day was that all the stores would be closed for three days after the New Year celebration. They said, on Friday, "Better get all your grocery shopping done tonight". So yeah, I beat it to the store to stock up on food. Here’s where the adventure really begins:
To recap, I’ve been here for about four weeks now and haven’t really gone in the kitchen since that first day. So no pans, no plates just a package of festive chopsticks with party people on the front. I go everywhere by bus. I used to do it all the time in Chicago, no sweat. What I used to do there was to buy what I wanted to eat that night and maybe a little something extra. …Just enough to fit into my backpack. It was a great way for a 20-something year old to live. Same thing in Berlin. But now, I have to get three days worth of supplies (starting from scratch) and hump them back to my place on a new years eve packed bus. Shouldn’t be a problem, right? Here are a few of the choices at the store:
Kee-ke-ke!
Besides pausing for the obvious joke, I have no use for these types of items. I have no way to cook them.
So when in doubt, I go for the old American Stand-bys:
That's some freakin yummy-ass looking stuff, right there.
The rest of the store looked pretty much like this:
Right… Looks like it’s time to start that diet.
Next time: The feast of a thousand question marks!
Rather than try to imitate Singlish I thought I’d post an i-chat I had with some of the people from the office. Obviously, they have real names but just to keep it simple I’ll just use their initials. It’s tough to separate out the I-chat abbreviations and the phonetic spelling. But you kind of get a clue as to how people talk around here. I was trying to find out what where I should go for the Chinese New Year celebration. For some reason, they were all crowded into one office.
u may wan to check out the lunar new year celebrations @ these places: the marina, the padang (the 1 we see out of our office) & chinatown. there will be fireworks , lion dances, strange (to you) foods & lots of gay (happy) people.
hahahah!!! guess who is teaching me to write ya...
2:45 PM
what day are they doing this?
hold on Rob this is "M" here using to check something
are you all in there?
yes
I'M MISSING THE PARTY?
Cocktails?
2:50 PM
hahahha!!! me "s" back again.... the fireworks will be held tomolo night, ready for the countdown @ 12midnight. Pls watch out for the SPGs (Sarong Party Girls) FYI, tis SYTs (Sweet Young Things) except for the occasional Ah Kwa (prefer GWEI-LOS) (white expats)
Free Singish lesson from "H".
thanks ...la
hahahha!!!
Cheers! Wish U good luck!
thanks,
I like to kid one of the guys in the office (H) that he has a bit of an obsession with gay people. It really bugs him and I think it’s funny. I think he’s trying to zing me back by implying that I’m cursing for “Ah Kaw”. The women in the office get a big kick out of it. I guess it started on my third day on the job when I walked into the office and said to the crew,
“where do you go in this town for some really good gay sex?” And "H" knew. (For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not really gay or looking for prostitutes, I just like to keep people on their toes.)
The “Ah Kwa” he was talking about is their term for a transvestite prostitute. "H" says you should check the baggage compartment before getting on the train.
Which brings me to another translation/ Chinese New year delema:
This is Bak kwa. It is pounded and roasted meat. It is a traditional snack on Chinese New year. I had some and it’s very good. I’m just a little hesitant about ordering it, as the word is a little too close to Ah Kwa. Given the way I mumble and have a proficiency for butchering peoples native tongue, one wonders what I’d really get.
Another thing I learned that day was that all the stores would be closed for three days after the New Year celebration. They said, on Friday, "Better get all your grocery shopping done tonight". So yeah, I beat it to the store to stock up on food. Here’s where the adventure really begins:
To recap, I’ve been here for about four weeks now and haven’t really gone in the kitchen since that first day. So no pans, no plates just a package of festive chopsticks with party people on the front. I go everywhere by bus. I used to do it all the time in Chicago, no sweat. What I used to do there was to buy what I wanted to eat that night and maybe a little something extra. …Just enough to fit into my backpack. It was a great way for a 20-something year old to live. Same thing in Berlin. But now, I have to get three days worth of supplies (starting from scratch) and hump them back to my place on a new years eve packed bus. Shouldn’t be a problem, right? Here are a few of the choices at the store:
Kee-ke-ke!
Besides pausing for the obvious joke, I have no use for these types of items. I have no way to cook them.
So when in doubt, I go for the old American Stand-bys:
That's some freakin yummy-ass looking stuff, right there.The rest of the store looked pretty much like this:
Right… Looks like it’s time to start that diet.
Next time: The feast of a thousand question marks!
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