the bad english thread

[zaren]

so I guess you guys knows what's engrish?

http://www.engrish.com/ -- hilarious site :bsmilie: :thumbsup:

:bsmilie: thanks for sharing!

 

[zaren]

So... how do the French infiltrate the Queen's English with the lingerie, brassiere and camaraderie... or c'est la vie...

Then there is the Latin words in English.... ergo (made famous by the Architect in Matrix), a priori (which you would have encountered while in tertiary education), de facto, per capita, etc etc...

Then there is the Chinese words.... chop suey (Cantonese), kumquat, dimsum, typhoon (Dai Fung), tofu, and of course Kung Fu!

How bout a sprinkling of Malay words... satay, batik, sarong.....

The English colonised quite a lot of countries and also did trade with many powerful nations in the past. Of course, it encountered many diverse cultures, customs, items which the English language have no word for. Thus, these are adopted into the English language.
:bsmilie:

The black Ameraicans like to use "man", "bro"...
"What's happenin man!?"
"What's goin down bro??"
"You're busted man!"
But thanks to popular pop culture and the popularity of rap... we have come to know them in this part of the world....

So in Singapore and some of Asia we have "huh" - english but used differently, "lahs", "liao"
"What are you doing now huh?"
"You busted liao lah"

yes, the vocabulary of the english language continues to grow, but the rules and structure of english grammar remain virtually unchanged. so, using a noun when a verb is called for is "bad english", while using a word that has recently been added to the english language is not.

 

[Deadpoet]

So... how do the French infiltrate the Queen's English with the lingerie, brassiere and camaraderie... or c'est la vie...

Then there is the Latin words in English.... ergo (made famous by the Architect in Matrix), a priori (which you would have encountered while in tertiary education), de facto, per capita, etc etc...

Then there is the Chinese words.... chop suey (Cantonese), kumquat, dimsum, typhoon (Dai Fung), tofu, and of course Kung Fu!

How bout a sprinkling of Malay words... satay, batik, sarong.....

The English colonised quite a lot of countries and also did trade with many powerful nations in the past. Of course, it encountered many diverse cultures, customs, items which the English language have no word for. Thus, these are adopted into the English language.
:bsmilie:

The black Ameraicans like to use "man", "bro"...
"What's happenin man!?"
"What's goin down bro??"
"You're busted man!"
But thanks to popular pop culture and the popularity of rap... we have come to know them in this part of the world....

So in Singapore and some of Asia we have "huh" - english but used differently, "lahs", "liao"
"What are you doing now huh?"
"You busted liao lah"

I am not saying certain "gettho language" spoken in many parts of the word acceptable or not acceptable. The people speaking them obviously understand each other. However if we have to ask if these localized version of english good or bad, proper or not, the answer is no. they are at best bad English. This applies to Singlish also.

Beside, as a part of the international economy, where English is the common language, not being able to have good command of the common language is not a good thing.

 

[johnlim]

cooked

adj : having been prepared for eating by the application of heat [ant: raw]



food (fd)
n.

Material, usually of plant or animal origin, that contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals, and is ingested and assimilated by an organism to produce energy, stimulate growth, and maintain life.

Please take note that the word 'food' can apply to anything that is edible. The dictionary does not state that 'food' only applies to things that are cooked or have been heated.

I think it is valid to use 'Cooked food' because not all food is cooked. And cooked food really means the food is cooked by means of heat. This makes a lot of sense here. The westerners may not use the word 'cooked' to describe their food but that doesn't mean we can't use it here. It is grammatically correct to use it before the word 'food'.

 

[Terence]

I was just at the Money Changer in Century Square when I caught sight of a sign hanging on their door.

Renovation in Progress
Inconvenience caused will be appreciated​

 

[Zplus]

I am not saying certain "gettho language" spoken in many parts of the word acceptable or not acceptable. The people speaking them obviously understand each other. However if we have to ask if these localized version of english good or bad, proper or not, the answer is no. they are at best bad English. This applies to Singlish also.

Beside, as a part of the international economy, where English is the common language, not being able to have good command of the common language is not a good thing.

Ah.. ok... I get you...

Anyway, its really not that bad. Most of the foreigners (English, French, Australian and Brits) I've worked with seem to understand Singlish quite well. They actually find it quite interesting. And for those who have worked here for a while, they can even speak like a local. Hahahaha!

They only seem to have trouble with some local terms we use like blachan, roti, terok, tekan, jialat, etc etc.....

But I do think that some of the locals here have trouble understanding the english used by foreigners sometimes - its not good English too.....

For example, once a American programmer wrote,
"Wow! That is some awesome work! How did you do it?"
in an email to congratulate someone from Philipines, who did the code in record breaking time.

To which the local boss told me that the American programmer must be quite lousy in his work. She reasoned that the American programmer must be quite dumb to ask the Philipino programmer how the program is written.

Of course, when the Philipino replied, "No sweat bro. It was easy as pie....", she was even more confused!

 

[zaren]

I was just at the Money Changer in Century Square when I caught sight of a sign hanging on their door.

Renovation in Progress
Inconvenience caused will be appreciated​

at least the grammar is correct! :bsmilie:

 

[Terence]

at least the grammar is correct! :bsmilie:

Actually it went through a bit of an edit. The grammar and spelling errors were pretty bad.

 

[zaren]

Actually it went through a bit of an edit. The grammar and spelling errors were pretty bad.

what was the original wording on the sign?

 

[Hoky]

I was just at the Money Changer in Century Square when I caught sight of a sign hanging on their door.

Renovation in Progress
Inconvenience caused will be appreciated​

Well, I've learned to appreciate inconvenience over the years. :bsmilie:

 

[Terence]

Well, I've learned to appreciate inconvenience over the years. :bsmilie:

You mean you got married?

.

 

[furrycake]

I was just at the Money Changer in Century Square when I caught sight of a sign hanging on their door.

Renovation in Progress
Inconvenience caused will be appreciated​

ahahahahaha ! this is a good one :bsmilie:
but i would really appreciate for the notice also.. sounds sincere enough ;p

Erm, I personally don't see what's wrong with saying cooked food..I think most ppl would understand The correct term might be processed food but would it sound weirder?

I was once told off by my hubby when i said maize corn. it's like saying 'corn corn'
While I'm tryin to learn the way to speak "proper" English, he's trying to speak Singlish too. We both find it cute to exchange notes :bsmilie:

 

[zaren]

I was once told off by my hubby when i said maize corn. it's like saying 'corn corn'

then "free gift" would be like "gift gift"? :think:

 

[leave]

then "free gift" would be like "gift gift"? :think:

An old teacher used to admonish that as superfluous, but nowadays some gifts aren't free anymore. How can a gift be free when you have to buy something else to get it ?! Even friends may present you gifts with strings attached. :think:

 

[Deadpoet]

While I'm tryin to learn the way to speak "proper" English, he's trying to speak Singlish too. We both find it cute to exchange notes :bsmilie:

It is absolutely fine to speak Singlish, it's the "color" of Singapore. It is also abslolutely fine for a foreigner to try to learn Singlish, makes living in Singapore that much more fun as you can get closer to the "color".

I read in some government publication that over 85% of Singaporean speaks fluent to passable English. This is what got me paying attention. Many of the people who claim they can speak English is in fact Speaking Singlish, and Singlish only. Substituting a Malay or Hokkien word here and there is not the real big problem. The wholesale substitution of the English language structure/grammer and rules with the Chinese language structure is the problem making Singlish bad English.

And I want to stress that Singlish by itself is a fully functional, colorful and legitimate language, but English, it is not.

 

[snowspeeder]

Over the years, I commonly hear people pronounce the word 'abandon' as 'abundant', or something like that.

 

[zaren]

Over the years, I commonly hear people pronounce the word 'abandon' as 'abundant', or something like that.

funnily enough, the weirdest pronunciation i've ever heard was uttered by my secondary one school teacher, who pronounced "determine" as dee-ter-myne. :think:

 

[redstone]

funnily enough, the weirdest pronunciation i've ever heard was uttered by my secondary one school teacher, who pronounced "determine" as dee-ter-myne. :think:

My old secondary school teacher used to pronounce 'therefore' as 'thell-fore'. :bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

And his nickname was 'thellfore'. :bsmilie:

 

[sillyme]

This bad english thread. You all should speak lousy english lah.

 

[zaren]

This bad english thread. You all should speak lousy english lah.

this thread is free and easy....you can speak/write bad english, or you can post examples of bad english here....anything goes! :bsmilie: