Thoughts Unlimited

Earlier today when I was walking to the bus stop from The Adelphi after my dental appointment (which hurts, both monetarily and physically), I met this group of blonde (yx! read this!) German people who asked me, "To youz now ware Funan centere ish?"

Okay, I'm not here to criticise their English, because my German probably isn't any better.

But anyway what amused me was what they were doing before one of them came up and asked me. They were huddled around the street light, staring collectively at a map which one of them were holding, and basically doing the typical tourist pose.

I am aware that tourists all around the world have this favourite pose which consists of one or a group of people, usually wearing hats/caps if the temperature is anything above 15 degrees Celsius, huddled together around a map.

This typical tourist pose is rather amusing to observe from a distance. The distance bit is very important.

Anyway, this is why it is very important, when you are in another country, you should do all your map reading away from prying eyes. The minute you do that, you're practically shouting to all the locals: TOURIST! And that isn't always a good idea. Of course, if you can't even find a map in the first place, then.. I guess that doesn't apply.

I continued my walk to the bus stop, and when I reached there I noticed a large proportion of Japanese. The ratio of Japanese to Singaporean was something like 15: 1, the one being me. I have never felt so out of place in Singapore!

The bus finally came, and when I climbed to the top deck, I was greeted by students sprawled all over every single seat. By saying that, I mean that it was one student per seat which is meant for two people. And they were sprawled because the sleep-deprived Singaporean youngsters find it most convinient to sleep on the bus on the way to wherever.

I saw that the one place left for me to sit was right at the last row, so I kind of gingerly made my way there.

Sat down, and was faced with a big mop of curly brown hair. The person on the seat in front of my was an ang moh, and at first because the hair was so long and so curly, I thought it was a girl. But it wasn't. It was a boy, about my age. He was sprawled, asleep, with his hair all over the back of the seat.

I decided to amuse myself via sms and mp3 player, and got home.

Then right now I just thought of something, involving people's pronounciation. But I'm not here to poke fun at foreigners. This time it's Singaporeans.

I was at Parkway foodcourt some time ago, (yes, I know I'm always at that place), and I was in the queue for a particularly popular stall. Behind me were an ang moh couple, who were obviously not residents of Singapore or its surroundings. They ordered their food, and then the auntie at the cashier said, "Ate lollars plis," and the two ang mohs went, "huh?"

I don't blame them.

In the light of the Singaporean government having campagins to speak Chinese and the likes, why not have one to speak English properly? It'll make a lot more sense, and possibly help all the hapless and clueless ang mohs have some amount of clue.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 at 4:44 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response.